THE 


OF 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UNIVE.'J.   TY   OF 
CALIFORNIA 


3 


:iy</ 


The    Church    Club    Lectures. 

New  and  cheaper  editions  in  cloth  binding, 
Price,  50  cents  each,  net. 

1888.— THE  HISTORY  AND  TEACHINGS  OF 
THE  EARLY  CHURCH,  as  a  Basis  for  the 
Re-Union  of  Christendom.  By  Bishops  Coxe  and 
Seymour,  and  Rev.  Drs.  Richey,  Garrison,  and 
Egar. 

1889.-THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BRITISH   ISLES. 

Sketches  of  its  continuous  history  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  Restoration.  By  Bishops  Doane  and 
Kingdon,  and  Rev.  Drs.  Hart,  Allen,  and  Gailor. 

1890.— THE  POST-RESTORATION  PERIOD  OF 
THE    CHURCH    IN    THE    BRITISH    ISLES. 

In  continuation  of  the  series  of  1889.      By  Bishops 
Perry  and   McLaren,  and   Rev.  Drs.   Mortimer, 
Richey,  and  Davenport. 
A  superior  edition  in  cloth,  gilt  lettered, 
Price,  $1.25  each,  net. 

E.   &  J.  B.  YOUNG   &   CO., 
Cooper   Union,  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York. 


THE 

HISTORY  AND  TEACHINGS 

OF   THE 

EARLY  CHURCH 

AS  A  BASIS  FOR 

THE 

RE- UNION  OF   CHRISTENDOM 


lectures 

Delivered   in  1888,  under   the   Auspices  of   the 
Church  Club,  in  Christ  Church,  N.  Y. 


THIRD  EDITION 


NEW    YORK 

E.    &  J.    B.   YOUNG    &    CO, 

COOPER  UNION,  FOURTH  AVENUE 
1892 


J6AN  «74a(f 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
E.  &  J.  B.  YOUNG  &  CO. 


TROW'9 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY, 

NEW  YORK. 


R57 


PREFACE. 

The  lectures  published  in  this  volume  were  de- 
livered in  Christ  Church,  in  this  city,  during  the 
spring  of  1888,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church 
Club,  an  association  of  laymen  of  this  diocese  who 
have  banded  themselves  together  with  this  object, 
among  others,  of  promoting  the  spread  of  sound 
Church  doctrine  and  building  up  a  robust  church- 
manship  among  the  people. 

This  course  of  lectures  was  the  first  effort  of  the 
Church  Club  in  this  direction. 

The  subject  chosen,  that  which  gives  the  general 
title  to  the  whole  course,  namely,  "  The  History 
and  Teachings  of  the  Early  Church  as  a  Basis  for 
the  Reunion  of  Christendom?  is  eminently  suggestive, 
in  view  of  the  recent  utterances  of  our  American 
House  of  Bishops,  and  of  the  Bishops  assembled  at 
the  Lambeth  Conference,  on  the  subject  of  reunion 
and  unity,  and  the  erroneous  constructions  that 
some  have  put  upon  their  words. 

We  regard  the  Reunion  of  Christendom  as  im- 

885 


IV  PREFACE. 

possible  except  upon  the  basis  of  the  faith  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  Early  Church,  and  to  ascertain  what 
those  are,  men  must  study  her  history. 

Two  facts  stand  out  in  bold  relief  in  Catholic 
Christianity,  considered  from  the  historic  stand- 
point : 

First,  The  historic  ministry,  tracing  its  descent 
back  without  break  or  interruption  to  the  Apostles' 
times,  and  commonly  and  correctly  described  as  the 
Ministry  of  the  Apostolic  Succession. 

Second.  The  fact  that  all  Bishops  are  equal  as 
touching  their  office,  and  that  our  Lord  committed 
the  supreme  government  of  His  Church  to  the 
Apostles  and  their  successors,  that  is  to  say,  to  the 
collective  Episcopate,  and  not  to  any  one  individual 
Bishop. 

These  facts  appear  to  be  strongly  brought  out 
in  these  lectures,  which  on  that  account  alone 
deserve  attention  ;  but  when  the  names  and  ability 
of  the  prelates  and  theologians  who  delivered  them 
are  taken  into  account,  the  volume  may  be  cordially 
recommended  not  only  to  members  of  our  com- 
munion, but  also  to  those  thoughtful  men  not  in 
communion  with  us  who  are  earnestly  pondering 
the  great  question  of  Christian  Unity. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 
The  Pentecostal  Age I 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  A.  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D. 

LECTURE  II. 

Syrian   Christianity  and  the  School  of  Antioch 31 

By  Rev.  Thomas  Richey,  D.D. 

LECTURE  III. 

The  North  African  Church  and  Its  Teachers 59 

By  Rev.  J.  F.  Garrison,  D.D. 

LECTURE  IV. 
The  School  of  Alexandria Ill 

By  Rev.  John  H.  Egar,  D.D. 

LECTURE  V. 
The  Church  of  Rome  in  Her  Relation  to  Christian 
Unity 169 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  S.T.D.,  LL.D. 


Gbe  Pentecostal  Hge  ano  (Browtb  of  tbe 
£burcb  to  tbe  Deatb  of  Saint  3obn, 


LECTURE  I. 

THE  RT.  REVEREND  A.  CLEVELAND  COXE,  D.D., 

Bishop  of  Western  New  York. 

THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE. 

Our  times  are  grievous  to  be  borne.  For,  to 
Christians,  no  material  prosperity,  no  brilliant  dis- 
coveries of  science  in  its  dealings  with  the  world  of 
sense,  in  short  nothing  that  is  temporal,  and  hence 
transient,  can  afford  any  satisfaction  in  exchange 
for  a  firm  foothold  upon  the  rock  of  faith  in  the 
Son  of  God,  an  eye  uplifted  in  hope  of  immortality, 
and  a  heart  full  of  love  to  humanity  in  all  its  needs, 
chiefly  those  which  pertain  to  things  eternal.  But, 
to  these  great  and  lasting  concerns,  our  times  are  in- 
different, coldly  skeptical,  or  malevolently  hostile. 
"  The  enemy  comes  in  like  a  flood,"  but  true  to  His 
promise,  just  at  such  a  crisis,  "  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  uplifts  a  standard  against  him." 

Before  this  enemy  those  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  feel  the  need  of  presenting  a  united  front. 
Hence,  a  spirit  of  return  to  first  principles  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  epoch  among  believers.     Never,  in 


4       THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

modern  times,  have  faith  and  zeal  been  more  active : 
never  before  have  learning  and  genius  been  more 
conspicuously  enlisted  on  the  side  of  divine  revela- 
tion ;  never  before  have  more  rapid  movements 
been  made  for  a  witness  to  heathen  nations,  and 
for  claiming  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth  for  the 
kingdom  of  Messiah.  At  such  a  moment  the  Spirit 
of  God  moves  over  the  chaos  of  divisions  and  scan- 
dals, and  his  generative  and  constructive  forces  are 
felt  anew.  The  demand  for  unity  is  the  most  hope- 
ful feature  of  the  age,  and  He  who  has  inspired  it 
will,  I  cannot  but  hope,  bring  it  to  good  effect. 

But,  here,  we  encounter  a  new  class  of  perils. 
Men  devise  schemes  and  projects  of  union  which 
have  no  reference  to  those  imperishable  and  funda- 
mental principles,  by  the  sacrifice  of  which  all  our 
schisms  and  scandals  have  been  created.  In  our 
American  republic,  the  Church  of  which  we  are 
members  has  ever  been  recognized  as  singular,  as 
alone  bearing  a  testimony  concerning  those  organic 
laws  of  unity,  which  our  Christian  brethren  have 
commonly  accused  of  narrowness  and  bigotry. 
Doubtless  truth  itself  may  be  maintained  in  a  spirit 
essentially  schismatical,  because  unloving  and  in- 
considerate. The  orthodoxy  of  the  Pharisee  may 
be  hateful  to  God ;  the  piety  of  the  Samaritan  may 
be  preferred  before  it.  Yet  our  Lord  did  not  suffer 
the  Samaritan  woman  to  imagine  that  truth  is  un- 
important;  he  reminded  her  that  "salvation  is  of 
the  Jews."     We  must  "  speak  the  truth  in  love  "•— 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.      $ 

live  the  truth  in  love,  as  the  text  implies  ;  but  never 
must  we  be  so  "  liberal  "  as  to  give  away  what  does 
not  belong  to  us.  We  must  never  compromise 
truth,  in  our  haste  to  exhibit  an  unreal  and  disap- 
pointing union  which  is  not  unity  and  which  is 
built  upon  the  sand.  We  cannot  surrender  the 
vital  unity  of  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church 
to  any  sentiment  of  mere  hand-shaking  fraternity, 
which  ignores  the  creed  and  the  sacraments,  and  all 
that  is  essential  for  the  perpetuity  of  their  faithful 
ministration  to  the  souls  of  men. 

Here  then  we  are  met  by  a  not  unnatural  outcry, 
that  we  are  proposing  unity  only  on  conditions  of 
entire  conformity  with  our  own  local  Church. 
Quite  the  reverse  is  true.  We  plead  for  a  Univer- 
sal System,  in  which  we  are  included,  but  we  make 
no  stand  on  anything  peculiar  to  ourselves.  We 
are  simply  proposing  that  all  should  conform  to  the 
Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  in  things 
scriptural  and  historically  accepted  from  the  begin- 
ning. This  is  not  ours  to  enact,  much  less  to  com- 
promise. It  is  Law  for  all  Christians.  We  accept 
it  as  ruled  for  us  by  those  whom  Christ  had  em- 
powered to  do  so ;  had  sent  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
guide;  had  promised  to  sustain;  "binding  in 
heaven  what  they  should  bind  on  earth."  We  lay 
on  others  nothing  because  it  is  ours.  They  are  left 
to  the  largest  freedom  of  details  ;  they  may  use  rites 
and  ceremonies  and  prayers  unknown  to  us.  They 
may  maintain  them  in  full  profession  of  the  one  faith. 


6       THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

They  will  then  far  outnumber  us,  and  may  take  the 
land  in  possession.  We  shall  rejoice  and  exult 
therein.  They  will,  then,  officiate  at  our  altars, 
even  if  not  prepared  to  welcome  us  to  theirs.  They 
often  seem  to  take  pleasure  in  representing  us  as  a 
small  body  dictating  to  our  superiors  in  numbers. 
But  numbers  beyond  numbering  have  spoken  thus, 
alike  to  us  and  them.  In  all  charity,  let  them 
reflect  that  they  may  amuse  themselves  with  a 
fallacy,  and  lose  sight  of  historic  truth  and  of  the 
logic  of  unalterable  facts.  What  they  imagine  us 
to  dictate,  comes  to  us  and  them  alike,  by  the 
testimony  of  the  historic  Church  of  Christ,  and 
by  her  universal  legislation  in  ages,  while  as  yet 
unity  was  unbroken.  That,  unity  was  violated  by 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  the  ninth  century.  The 
old  constitutions  and  canons  were  ignored  by 
him,  as  they  now  are  by  all  the  sects  which 
originated  in  the  sixteenth  century ;  victims  of 
the  intolerable  yoke  his  schism  had  imposed  on 
the  West.  His  new  canons  and  fabulous  decretals 
had  been  substituted  for  Laws  of  the  Primitive 
Christians,  and  this  created  all  the  schisms  of  West- 
ern Christendom.  The  ignorance  of  early  Chris- 
tianity which  had  overspread  the  Latin  churches 
bred  a  fatal  mistake.  Luther  and  Calvin  failed  to 
restore,  while  they  strove  to  reform.  They  forgot 
that  true  reformation  means  nothing  destructive,  but 
implies  the  preservation  of  that  which  requires  re- 
form.    You  do  not  break  what  you  undertake  te 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.      7 

cleanse.  A  golden  vase  may  be  encrusted  with 
filthy  accumulations,  and  may  have  been  gilded 
over  its  very  dirt ;  but  you  reform  it  by  purging 
the  dross,  and  by  purifying.  The  moment  you  de- 
stroy the  gold  because  of  its  defilement,  you  cease 
to  be  a  reformer ;  you  become  a  destroyer,  and  not 
a  repairer.  Now,  what  says  the  law  of  God  ?  "  If 
thou  take  forth  the  precious  from  the  vile,  thou 
shalt  be  as  my  mouth."  This  is  restoration,  and  it 
is  the  only  true  reformation  that  can  be  recognized 
in  the  case  of  the  Church  ;  for  old  it  is  and  defiled  it 
may  be,  but  it  cannot  perish  without  a  failure  of 
Christ's  promise,  nor  can  any  man  found  a  new 
church  in  its  stead.  It  is  an  organization,  a  visible 
kingdom  which  was  established  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  and  which  may  be  as  foul  as  Sardis  with- 
out losing  its  identity.  This  the  Master  recognized 
in  His  message  to  the  corrupt  churches  of  antiq- 
uity ;  and  therefore,  though  the  Latin  churches  be 
as  wicked  as  Jezebel,  and  hateful  as  the  Nicolaitanes, 
Christ's  message  to  them  one  and  all  is  only  this: 
"Remember  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  repent 
and  do  the  first  works."  In  a  word,  restore  what  is 
primitive  in  faith,  in  works,  in  order,  in  unity. 

The  path  to  unity,  then,  is  a  very  plain  one. 
Take  a  body  of  Christians,  for  example,  like  the 
Lutherans ;  the  historic  "  Protestants,"  so  univer- 
sally honoured  for  their  history  of  intrepid  and  suffer- 
ing fidelity  to  certain  great  central  truths.  Is  it 
anything  which  they  ought  to  dread,  this  idea  that 


8       THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

something  remains  for  them  to  do  now,  which  could 
not  be  done  amid  the  wars  and  confusions  and  per- 
secutions of  the  past  ?  Let  us  imagine  a  "  Lutheran 
of  the  Lutherans  "  rising  up  in  Germany  and  say- 
ing— "  We  have  lost  ground,  and  Rome  has  come 
back  like  a  flood,  where  once  we  had  fought  and 
conquered.  Let  us  see  what  mistakes  were  made ; 
and  what  remains  to  be  done,  if  we  would  go  on  and 
reform  our  own  glorious  Germany.  It  is  ignoble  to 
fold  our  hands  and  consent  to  live  on  as  a  feeble  sect, 
while  Germany  is  unreformed,  and  while  a  fouler 
superstition  than  that  of  the  Middle  Ages  holds 
millions  of  Latin  Christians  in  spiritual  bondage. 
Let  us  wake  up  the  reformation  and  repair  our  mis- 
takes ;  let  us  do  what  remains  to  be  done,  instructed 
by  the  history  of  three  centuries ;  let  us  go  on  to  do 
for  Germany  what  Luther  wished  to  do  ;  what  John 
Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  might  have  done  more 
successfully  perhaps  ;  what  we  may  do  by  falling 
back  upon  their  lines  and  carrying  on  what  they  so 
gloriously  begun."  Let  us  imagine,  I  say,  such  a 
Lutheran  raised  up,  by  God's  mighty  power,  to  com- 
plete the  reformation,  by  the  work  that  remains  to 
be  done — that  is,  the  work  of  RESTORATION  ?  Is  there 
anything  in  all  this  that  any  Lutheran  should  not 
rejoice  to  do  ?  Very  well ;  to  come  back  to  our  own 
land  :  Suppose  some  Lutheran  here  should  say — 
these  "  Episcopalians  "  are  Laodiceans  ;  they  utterly 
fail  to  do  the  work  God  has  set  before  them  ;  they 
do  not  recognize  what  even  De  Maistre  saw  to  be 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.      9 

their  special  mission.  Let  us  not  wait  for  them  ;  let 
us  learn  from  De  Maistre  what  is  really  "  precious  " 
in  their  possessions  ;  but,  since  they  have  laid  it  up 
in  a  napkin,  let  us  take  the  lead  and  do  for  them 
and  for  ourselves  together,  what  ought  to  be  done. 
Let  us  begin  the  work  of  Universal  Restoration. 
Let  us  go  to  our  countrymen,  the  Old  Catholics  of 
Germany ;  let  us  obtain  the  historic  organization 
which  is  useful,  to  say  the  least,  and  on  which  hinges 
so  much  that  is  essential  to  peace.  Thus  qualified, 
let  us  appeal  to  other  Christians  to  unite  with  us. 
We  shall,  in  time,  enfold  the  great  mass  of  Ameri- 
can piety  and  zeal  and  learning  in  a  truly  Apos- 
tolic American  Church  ;  a  church  tolerant  of  local 
differences,  but  confessing  the  Apostolic  Faith  and 
maintaining  an  organic  Unity ;  all  "  striving  to- 
gether "  for  "  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints." 
Let  some  Lutheran,  I  say,  be  raised  up  here,  in 
America,  to  meet  the  gigantic  problems  of  the  land 
in  such  a  spirit — what  would  become  of  us  "  Episco- 
palians ?  "  Why,  the  answer  is — we  should  be  swal- 
lowed up,  absorbed,  and  unified  in  this  great  body, 
and  we  should  sing  Alleluias  over  such  a  consumma- 
tion. Perish  every  thought  of  ambition  or  of  nar- 
row devotion  to  our  own  local  history,  that  should 
stand  in  the  way  of  a  consummation  so  glorious. 
Let  our  fellow-Christians  rise  up  to  a  work  so 
blessed,  and  they  may  be  sure  that  they  will  en- 
counter no  opposition  from  us.  We  should  be  found 
working  with  them   and  for  them.     In   functional 


IO    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

details  we  should  daily  no  doubt  draw  nearer  and 
nearer  together,  and  so  organic  Unity  might  be  re- 
stored in  God's  good  time.  We  do  not  say  "  come 
over  to  us,"  therefore  we  do  not  propose  to  go  over  to 
you.  But,  when  we  all  consent  to  the  Universal  Law 
of  System,  and  gravitate  to  the  Common  Centre  of 
Catholic  and  Primitive  and  Scriptural  Truth — then 
the  work  is  done.  There  we  all  meet,  and  there  we 
all  become  One  in  Christ  and  His  Church.  Thus, 
too,  we  shall  defeat  what  is  Roman  in  the  alien  im- 
migration, by  embracing  all  that  is  Catholic  in  it. 
Thus  Romanists  will  have  come  to  America  to  be 
reformed  ;  they  will  become  "  Old  Catholics  "  first  ; 
and  then,  one  with  their  fellow-Christians,  in  the 
great  American  Church  of  the  future. 

I  have  put  the  case  in  a  form  of  imaginary  prog- 
ress, sufficiently  humiliating  to  ourselves.  It  is 
hard  even  to  think  of  ourselves  as  so  utterly  un- 
worthy to  help  others.  But,  such  is  our  answer  to  a 
stale  complaint  of  arrogance  on  our  part  of  which 
it  effectually  disposes. 

I  might  easily  point  out  the  elements  which  exist 
among  American  sects,  for  this  great  restoration  ;  to 
be  wrought  out  by  themselves,  and  so  made  real  and 
lasting ;  but  this  is  not  my  duty  now.  As  introduc- 
tory to  the  course  which  has  been  so  admirably  out- 
lined, I  have  ventured  upon  a  train  of  thought 
which,  I  trust,  will  guard  against  mistakes  within 
or  without  our  own  fold.  Let  me  now  congratu- 
late you  on  your  noble  efforts  to  become  rooted  and 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    II 

grounded  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  Unity, 
which  it  is  our  mission  to  uphold,  leaving  results  to 
God  ;  so  reaching  just  conclusions  as  to  what  is  to 
be  conceded  under  the  law  of  liberty,  and  what  is 
to  be  defended  and  maintained  as  truth  belonging  to 
God,  which  no  weak  yearning  for  sentimental  good 
has  any  excuse  for  compromising.  I  am  very  glad 
that  it  falls  to  me  to  go  over  the  scriptural  ground  of 
the  first  century.  I  hold,  indeed,  that  the  second 
century  is  evidence  of  what  the  apostles  delivered 
to  the  Church  of  the  primitive  age;  for  he  who 
thinks  otherwise  must  confront  the  absurd  conclu- 
sion that  the  whole  church  committed  suicide  as 
soon  as  the  apostles  fell  asleep,  by  rejecting  divine 
ordinances  and  constitutions  and  modes  of  worship, 
and  "  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints."  It  is 
the  simple  statement  of  the  Anglican  Church,  that 
certain  things  are  "  evident  to  all  men  diligently 
reading  the  Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors." 
The  ancient  authors  must  keep  their  place ;  they 
are  merely  witnesses,  and  help  us  to  determine 
whether  anything  we  seem  to  see  in  the  Scriptures 
are  only  our  private  whim.  If  what  we  read  in  the 
New  Testament  is  found  to  coincide  with  what  we 
find  in  the  writings  of  Clement  and  Ignatius  and 
Polycarp,  then,  by  all  rules  of  evidence,  we  are  as- 
sured of  our  position.  It  is  a  maxim  which  rules  in 
all  courts  of  law,  that  "  the  contemporary  interpre- 
tation of  any  law  or  ordinance  is  the  strongest  and 
must  prevail." 


12     THE  FENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

We  come,  then,  to  the  Pentecostal  period.  The 
Holy  Ghost  was  not  only  to  guide  the  apostles  into 
all  truth  ;  He  was  to  "  bring  to  their  remembrance  " 
all  things  which  Christ  Himself  had  told  them.  It 
will  be  recalled  that  after  our  Lord  had  risen  from 
the  dead,  the  apostles  themselves  were  yet  full  of 
Jewish  ideas,  and  were  only  gradually  awakened  to 
the  universal  inclusiveness  of  their  commission  and 
of  their  appointed  work.  The  story  of  St.  Peter's 
vision  at  Joppa,  and  of  the  baptism  of  Cornelius, 
proves  this.  The  Holy  Ghost  was  that  "  other 
Comforter  "  who  was  to  open  their  hearts  and  minds 
to  the  whole  of  what  their  Master  had  designed. 
During  the  great  forty  days,  He  had  been  seen  of 
them  after  His  resurrection,  and  He  had  then  taught 
them  "  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Now,  in  the  Acts  and  the  Apostolic  Epistles  we 
have  the  record  of  these  same  things.  What  the 
apostles  ruled  and  wrought  and  wrote  are  the  things 
"  pertaining  to  the  kingdom,"  which  the  Master  or- 
dained, and  which  the  Holy  Ghost  brought  to  their 
remembrance.  Entire  unity  of  system  runs  through 
and  regulates  all,  in  all  the  Epistles.  If  we  find  any 
one  rule  laid  down  by  any  apostle,  that  is  what  all 
the  apostles  "  ordained  in  all  the  churches."  To  all 
alike  were  given  "  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  ; ''  all 
"  spake  by  the  same  Spirit."  To  the  whole  College 
of  the  Apostles  was  given  the  promise  that  "  what 
they  bound  on  earth  should  be  bound  in  heaven." 
The^"  Unity  of   the   Spirit;"   the  Communion  of 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    1 3 

Saints  in  that  one  Spirit ;  the  "  one  Lord,  one  Faith, 
one  Baptism  ; "  these  are  the  outgrowth  of  that  pe- 
riod, which  is  delineated  for  us  in  the  Book  of  the 
Acts,  the  "  Gospel  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

So,  then,  let  us  come  to  one  of  those  imperial 
texts,  which  flood  with  light  all  that  is  elsewhere 
recorded  concerning  the  primitive  faithful.  Here  it 
is,  in  the  history  of  the  great  day  of  Pentecost  itself, 
when  the  Catholic  Church  received  the  first  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  Then  they  that  gladly 
received  his  word,  were  (i)  baptized,  and  the  same 
day  there  were  added  to  them  about  three  thousand 
souls.  And  they  continued  steadfastly  in  (2)  the 
apostles'  doctrine,  and  (3)  fellowship,  and  (4)  in  the 
breaking  of  bread,  and  (5)  the  prayers."  Here  are 
all  the  elements  of  Catholic  Unity.  St.  Peter's 
great  privilege  of  being  the  first  to  confess  the  In- 
carnate God  had  been  rewarded  by  the  privilege  of 
a  primacy  peculiar  to  himself,  and  in  its  own  nature 
incommunicable  to  others.1  His  was  the  first  use  of 
the  keys,  in  opening  the  kingdom  to  Jews  and  then 
to  Gentiles.  But,  there  St.  Peter's  distinction  ends. 
The  same  keys  and  the  same  authority  were  given  to 
all  the  apostles  in  corporate  unity.  Hence  St.  Peter 
received  mission  from  the  Apostolic  College,  instead 
of  giving  it.  The  apostles  "  sent  Peter  and  John  " 
into  Samaria  to  confirm  those  whom  St.  Philip  had 
baptized.  In  the  first  council  it  is  St.  James  who 
presides,  and  not  St.  Peter.     St.  Paul  disputes  with 

1  Acts  xv.  7. 


14    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

St.  Peter,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ratifies  what  St. 
Paul  had  maintained  against  him.  St.  Paul  is  per- 
mitted by  the  Spirit  to  record  that  he  received 
nothing  from  James,  Peter,  or  John,  "  who  seemed 
to  be  pillars,"  and  that  he  was  "not  a  whit  behind 
the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles."  Christ  himself 
had  settled  beforehand,  that  no  one  among  them 
was  to  "  be  greatest."  He  hinted  to  them  that  there 
were  "  last  who  should  be  first,"  and  this  was  ful- 
filled in  the  subsequent  primacy  of  St.  James,  and 
in  the  universal  mission  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Gentiles, 
while  St.  Peter's  jurisdiction  was  expressly  restricted 
to  the  Jewish  dispersion.  St.  Cyprian  thinks  that 
our  Lord's  twofold  act  was  significant :  first,  he  gave 
the  keys  as  signifying  one  indivisible  power;  then 
he  gave  the  same  to  all  the  apostles  to  signify  that 
all  had  the  same  right  to  use  it.  Here,  then,  we  have 
the  nature  of  "the  apostles'  fellowship  "  defined.  It 
is  not  communion  with  St.  Peter,  nor  with  any  one 
Apostolic  See  ;  it  is  the  communion  and  fellowship 
of  the  apostles  maintained,  (i)  by  their  baptism,  (2) 
their  doctrine,  and  (3)  by  "  continuing  steadfastly  " 
therein,  as  opposed  to  becoming  followers  of  any 
one  teacher,  or  joining  any  sect  originating  subse- 
quently to  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  Church, 
thus  organized  once  for  all  and  forever,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  apostolic  eucharist  and  the  apostolic  prayers, 
here  referred  to,  show  that  a  system  of  worship  was 
recognized  by  the  Church  from  the  beginning,  as 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    1 5 

that  in  which  all  Christians  were  to  continue  stead- 
fastly. This  was  none  other  than  the  synagogue 
worship  augmented  by  Christian  "  hymns  and  spir- 
itual songs,"  which  lifted  the  Psalter  into  the 
Christian  substance  that  had  been  so  long  veiled 
under  the  Law,  and  which  Christ,  in  the  walk  to 
Emmaus,  had  expounded  in  its  fulness  of  relation 
to  Himself.  Such  were  the  apostolic  prayers, 
while  the  apostolic  "breaking  of  bread  "  succeeded 
the  bloody  sacrifices  of  the  Law,  and  fulfilled  the 
prediction  of  Malachi  concerning  "  the  pure  oblation  " 
in  every  place  among  the  Gentiles.  This  St.  Paul 
refers  to.  He  asserts  it  to  be  part  of  his  great  com- 
mission to  secure  this  to  the  Gentiles  as  their  "  lit— 
urgist  and  hierurge  ;  "  for  so  the  Greek  records  it. 

We  now  come  to  the  enlargement  of  the  Apos- 
tolic College  by  the  commission  of  "  Barnabas  and 
Paul ;  "  and  subsequently  by  the  admission  of  others, 
who  are  distinguished  from  the  apostles  of  Christ's 
personal  ordaining,  as  "  apostles  (or  angels)  of  the 
churches."  Here  was  signified  (i)  Christ's  intention 
to  perpetuate  the  apostolic  order,  and  (2)  the  co- 
equal power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  do  this  for 
Christ.  Then  (3)  we  come  to  the  formation  of  what 
is  now  called  the  "  Apostolic  Episcopate,  "  *>.,  the 
succession  of  those  chosen  to  the  presidency  of  the 
churches  by  the  churches  themselves.  These  re- 
ceived the  ordinary  gifts  (but  not  the  extraordinary 
functions)  of  the  original  apostles  of  Christ. 

Our  Lord  intended  the  Apostolic  order  to  be  per- 


1 6     THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

petual  in  His  Church  :  "  He  was  to  be  with  them 
always,  to  the  end  of  the  world."  Not  with  them 
personally,  of  course,  but  with  the  Apostolic  Min- 
istry. The  other  orders  were  founded  by  the  Apos- 
tles themselves.  They  were  "  also  presbyters  ;  "  and 
they  appointed  co-presbyters,  as  well  as  co-apostles  ; 
they  were  "  deacons,"  and  they  appointed  an  order 
of  deacons  to  relieve  them  of  their  inferior  minis- 
tries. But,  to  Timothy  and  Titus  personally,  as  co- 
apostles,  they  gave  co-apostolic  power  to  ordain 
presbyters  and  deacons.  No  such  powers  were 
lodged  with  the  presbytery,  though  they  assisted  in 
laying  on  hands  when  persons  were  admitted  to 
their  order.  Thus,  Titus  was  stationed  in  Crete  to 
"  ordain  presbyters  in  every  city."  He  was  the  or- 
dainer ;  otherwise  it  would  have  been  sufficient  to 
leave  a  presbytery  to  "  ordain  in  every  city,"  when 
once  two  or  three  presbyters  had  been  ordained  to 
start  with. 

Here  let  me  note,  once  for  all,  that  not  names, 
but  things,  are  thus  spoken  of.  The  original  names 
of  these  officers  were  (i)  "Apostles  of  Christ,"  or 
"  Apostles  of  the  Churches  ; "  (2)  presbyters,  or  el- 
ders, and  (3)  deacons.  They  were  sometimes  spoken 
of  less  technically,  and  hence  confused  ideas  have 
arisen.  Apostles  and  presbyters  were  bishops,  i.e., 
pastors,  and  we  still  speak  of  both  orders  alike  as 
pastors.  The  presbyters  of  Crete  were  pastors  of 
their  flocks  in  certain  cities ;  but  Titus  was  pastor 
"  in  every  city  "  of  Crete,  and  had  the  presbyters 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  J  OH  A?.    1 7 

also  in  his  jurisdiction,  as  appears  from  the  Epistle. 
More  strikingly  this  principle  appears  in  the  two 
Epistles  to  Timothy  :  He  presides  over  the  local 
presbyters,  who  were  pastors  (or  "  bishops ")  in 
Ephesus;  but  he,  while  not  less  a  co-presbyter,  is 
alone  empowered  to  ordain.  He  himself  had  been 
ordained  a  presbyter  "  by  St.  Paul,  with  the  pres- 
bytery," and  he  is  reminded  not  to  neglect  his  pres- 
byter-work because  he  had  also  a  superior  place  and 
task.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  term  "  presby- 
ters," like  pastors  now,  was  a  term  often  used  in 
speaking  of  the  two  higher  orders,  long  after  the 
term  "  bishops  "  had  become  peculiar  to  one  of  them. 
Those  who  had  succeeded  to  apostolic  powers  de- 
lighted to  imitate  St.  Peter  and  speak  of  themselves 
a  co-presbyters  ;  and  of  their  brethren  presbyters  as 
co-bishops,  that  is,  overseers  or  pastors  of  their  several 
flocks.  The  fallacy  of  arguing,  therefore,  that  these 
were  overseers  in  the  same  degree  is  most  apparent. 
Little  by  little  the  modest  term  of  bishops  (to  which 
presbyters  had  a  right  in  a  lower  degree)  became  re- 
stricted to  pastors-in-chief;  who  thus  resigned  for- 
ever, to  those  chief  apostles  of  Scripture,  and  es- 
pecially to  those  who  were  filled  with  the  extraor- 
dinary gifts  needful  in  founding  the  Church,  that 
venerable  name.  Again,  I  remark,  we  have  been 
speaking  of  things,  not  mere  names.  These  things 
are  the  three  orders,  distinctly  marked  as  in  other 
scriptures,  so  also  more  emphatically  and  definitely 
in  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus.    Epaphroditus 


1 8    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

was  the  "  apostle  "  of  the  Philippians,  and  carried  to 
his  presbyters  and  deacons  the  epistle  which  St. 
Paul  wrote  to  them,  to  account  for  his  long  absence 
and  to  fortify  them  in  their  love  to  their  Diocesan  ; 
so  that  this  epistle  is  hardly  less  explicit.  And  here 
let  it  be  said,  once  for  all,  that  if  any  other  theory 
of  the  Primitive  Ministry  be  adopted,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  interpret  the  Acts  and  Epistles  in  a 
symmetrical  and  harmonious  way,  meeting  all  cases 
and  all  points  without  straining  anything.  On 
the  other  hand,  this  system  involves  no  other 
difficulty  than  a  confusion  of  words  or  names,  out 
of  which  the  schoolmen  framed  the  Presbyte- 
rial  theory,  in  order  to  lower  the  bishops  to  the 
order  of  presbyters,  and  thus  to  exalt  the  Pope 
as  the  one  and  only  Bishop  properly  so  called.  It 
seems  strange,  but  it  is  not  less  true,  that  in  this  our 
denominational  brethren  are  the  victims  of  the 
Papacy.  In  fact  they  are  the  only  Christians  who 
accept  the  Papal  dogma  by  which  Presbyters  are 
made  the  highest  order  in  the  Christian  Ministry. 
Romish  bishops  by  their  laws  are  only  presbyters, 
admitted  to  Episcopal  functions,  as  vicars  of  the 
Universal  Bishop,  or  Pope.  Their  dogma  affirms 
that  the  holy  orders  are  three,  "  presbyters,  deacons, 
and  sub-deacons"  and  that  these  three  orders  have 
existed  since  the  apostles'  times  !  This  is  palpably 
a  falsehood  as  regards  sub-deacons ;  and  it  is  need- 
less to  say  that  the  Greek  churches,  with  all  the 
Fathers,  recognize  the  threefold  ministry  as  "  bish- 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    1 9 

ops,  presbyters,  and  deacons  ;  "  that  is  in  scriptural 
terms  "  apostles,  elders,  and  deacons ;"  phraseology, 
which  I  have  sufficiently  explained. 

The  formation  of  the  Historic  Episcopate  is  thus 
expounded ;  but  I  have  anticipated  in  some  degree 
as  to  the  process.  All  becomes  more  absolutely  and 
unanswerably  evident,  if  we  return  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Episcopate,  or  rather  of  the  Apostolate, 
by  the  admission  of  others  to  the  company  of  the 
eleven.  The  case  of  Matthias  is  exceptional.  St. 
Peter's  language  about  his  election,  his  reference  to 
the  minatory  psalm,  and  his  exposition  of  its  force, 
like  his  great  sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  are 
full  of  ideas  wholly  unlike  anything  that  precedes 
the  "  Walk  to  Emmaus "  and  the  "  Great  Forty 
Days."  All  this  reflects  the  Master's  own  teachings 
concerning  His  kingdom  after  His  resurrection. 
Exceptionally,  and  to  fulfil  the  Scriptures,  there- 
fore, Matthias  in  place  of  Judas  becomes  an  apostle 
under  the  command — "  his  bishopric  let  another 
take."  But  this  was  only  his  call ;  his  qualification 
was  that  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  given  to  him  as  to  the 
eleven,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  the  fiery 
tongues  completed  the  investiture  of  the  Apostolic 
College.  It  was  thus  rendered  what  it  had  been 
before,  an  unmutilated  company  of  original  eye-wit- 
nesses of  the  Incarnate  Word. 

Two  more  were,  soon  after,  added  to  this  com- 
pany, in  exceptional  ways;  and  this  enlargement  of 
the  Apostolic  College  disposes  of  all  theories  based 


20    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

on  any  idea  that  the  number  of  the  apostles  was  in 
fact  limited  to  twelve.  This  idea  receives,  it  is  true, 
a  momentary  colour  when,  in  the  Apocalypse,  the 
"  twelve  foundations "  are  spoken  of,  and  the 
"  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb."  Just  so  "  the 
twelve  sons  of  Jacob  "are  spoken  of,  though  in 
the  Apocalypse  Dan  is  omitted  and  Ephraim  is  not 
mentioned,  except  under  the  name  of  Joseph  ;  while 
like  Manasseh,  his  brother,  he  is  only  Jacob's  grand- 
son, not  literally  his  son.  It  is  not  easy  to  harmonize 
this  catalogue  with  that  of  Jacob  on  his  death- 
bed. So  we  read  of  "  the  four-and-twenty  elders." 
Who  are  they  ?  Secret  things  belong  to  God,  and 
nobody  is  called  to  harmonize  them  before  His 
time.  Obviously  they  do  not  affect  the  recorded 
facts  that  Barnabas  and  Saul  were  added  to  the 
original  College  of  the  Apostles. 

On  one  point  St.  Paul  always  insists :  he  is  an 
apostle  "  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  does  so, 
because  there  were  apostles  "  of  the  churches."  Our 
Lord  had  personally  called  him  ;  he  was  "  not  of 
men,"  like  false  apostles,  "  nor  by  men,"  like  the 
"  apostles  of  the  churches."  These  latter  were  suc- 
cessors of  the  apostles;  but  he  and  Barnabas,  in 
divers  ways,  were  called  to  be  of  the  original  college. 
The  original  apostles  recognized  l  them  as  such,  giv- 
ing them  "  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  ;  "  but  it  is  in- 
structive to  note  an  underlying  principle  here,  which 
amounts  to  this,  viz.,  that  an  apostle  called  by  Christ 

1  Galat.  ii.  9. 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    21 

himself,  and  an  apostle  called  by  Christ  through  His 
Holy  Spirit,  are  of  like  character,  and  as  such  co- 
equals.  Barnabas  is  said  to  have  had  a  call  from 
the  Spirit  previous  to  that  recorded  of  his  mission  ; 
St.  Paul  had  been  called  and  made  an  apostle  pre- 
viously. Both  receivecl  their  mission,  not  their 
order,  from  the  Holy  Ghost  through  inspired  proph- 
ets. The  original  apostles  recognized  them  as 
aggregated  to  their  own  company,  not  as  successors, 
but  as  apostles,  by  original  and  underived  commis- 
sion ;  "perceiving"  says  St.  Paul,  "  the  grace  that 
was  given  unto  me"  that  I,  as  well  as  Barnabas, 
"  should  go  unto  the  Gentiles."  Those  who  fail  to 
distinguish  between  order  and  mission  find  difficul- 
ties in  this  history,  most  of  which  disappear  if  this 
distinction  is  made.  But  even  the  Independents,  I 
am  informed,  practically  recognize  the  difference ; 
that  is,  they  regard,  a  certain  brother  as  a  qualified 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  but  when  he  is  elected  to  be 
the  pastor  of  a  particular  flock,  they  unite  in  "  set- 
tling him,"  which  they  do  with  a  form  called  "the 
right  hand  of  fellowship."  In  other  words,  they 
give  him  mission  after  their  manner.  Apply  the  like 
idea  to  the  inspired  mission  of  two  apostles;  the 
one  of  whom  received  his  apostleship  directly  from 
Christ  personally,  while  the  other  received  the  same 
indirectly  from  Christ,  through  His  divine  Spirit. 
Then,  they  received  mission,  from  the  Holy  Spirit, 
through  inspired  men  commanded  to  solemnize  the 
gift.  Their  entire  equality  with  the  original  college  of 


22    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

apostles  demonstrates  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  ordain  and  qualify  ministers  of  Christ  through 
all  time,  and  till  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord. 

The  secondary  class  of  apostles  is  called  that  of 
"apostles  of  the  churches"  by  St.  Paul.  The 
Greek  word  (angelos),  or  "  angel  of  the*  churches," 
is  equipollent — a  mere  synonym — and  is  used  by  St. 
John  as  he  uses  a  word  for  "  the  Lamb,"  different 
from  what  is  used  elsewhere,  but  entirely  equivalent. 
His  mind,  in  both  cases,  probably  reverted  to  the 
original  Syriac,  as  when  he  uses  "  Cephas "  instead 
of  Peter,  in  the  story  of  that  apostle. 

The  passage  in  which  St.  Paul  uses  this  distinc- 
tion is  very  striking,  and  is  a  key  to  other  passages. 
Thus  he  says,  in  his  second  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians : '  "Whether  any  do  inquire  of  Titus,  he  is 
my  partner  and  fellow-helper  concerning  you ;  or 
our  brethren  be  inquired  of,  they  are  the  apostles  of 
the  churches  and  the  glory  of  Christ."  Thus  he  de- 
fines the  apostleship  of  those  whom  he  employed  as 
"  fellow-helpers,"  and  about  whose  status  the  Corin- 
thians were  apparently  puzzled.  When  Christ  ap- 
pears to  St.  John,  "  holding  seven  stars  in  his  right 
hand  " — these  stars  receive  the  same  name — "  an- 
gels (or  apostles)  of  the  seven  churches,"  and  their 
starry  similitude  indicates  this  "  glory  of  Christ  ;  " 
dimmed  and  clouded  as  was  the  lustre  of  some  of 
these  seven,  who  were  yet  recognized  by  the  long- 
suffering  author   of   their  ministry.     If   then   such 

1  II.  Cor.  viii.  27. 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    23 

be  "  inquired  after,"  in  the  case  of  Apollos,  or 
Silas,  or  Sosthenes,  or  Timothy,  or  Titus,  or  others, 
here  is  the  answer:  Though  not  primary  apostles, 
they  were  yet  Christ's  apostles,  as  being  chosen  by, 
or  divinely  set  over,  certain  churches,  or  appointed 
to  be  coadjutors  of  other  apostles,  as  were  Linus 
and  Cletus  at  Rome.  When  we  come  to  a  later 
period,  we  find  Timothy  and  Titus  localized  in 
Ephesus  and  Crete ;  and  later  still,  we  find  seven 
churches  of  Asia,  with  their  localized  "  angels." 
Thus,  the  diocesan  Episcopate  was  formed  before 
the  death  of  St.  John,  and  accepted  by  our  Lord 
himself,  as  appears  in  what  "  the  Spirit  saith  unto 
the  churches." 

Whatever  interpretation  may  be  put  upon  Script- 
ure, however,  by  methods  which  depend  upon  the 
ambiguities  of  certain  words,  we  reach  historic  facts 
of  the  second  century  which  point  to  one  conclusion 
only  in  the  records  of  the  Church.  Here  we  find 
not  a  trace  of  any  other  system  than  that  which  I 
have  delineated.  Call  him  what  you  will,  for  in  his 
humility,  amid  the  simplicity  and  suffering  estate  of 
all  Christians  about  him,  he  assumed  no  titles  of 
pre-eminence  and  was  "  also  a  presbyter;  "  call  him, 
therefore,  what  you  may,  one  always  presides  over 
the  presbytery  and  administers  the  affairs  of  any  lo- 
cal church  under  the  instructions  given  to  Timothy 
and  Titus.  He  ordains  presbyters ;  the  presbytery 
assists  in  the  ordination,  but  never  ordains  without 
him.     He  alone  administers  discipline,  receives  and 


24    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

tries  accusations,  exhorts  and  rebukes  with  authority, 
and  guides  the  flock  as  the  common  father  of  the 
people  and  their  pastor  as  well.  The  Epistles  of 
Clement  and  of  Polycarp  only  incidentally  illustrate 
this  condition  of  things,  but  their  contemporary  Ig- 
natius makes  them  the  subject  of  his  letters  to  the 
churches  of  Asia  and  to  Polycarp,  his  beloved 
brother,  as  he  goes  to  Rome  to  die  a  martyr.  In 
that  crisis  he  felt  the  importance  of  entire  unity 
among  the  churches,  and  of  that  holy  spirit  of  order 
and  brotherly  love  in  local  churches  which  alone 
could  prevent  schisms  and  heresies  from  cropping 
out  and  devouring  the  flock,  as  St.  Paul  had  fore- 
told. We  may  fearlessly  challenge  the  Papacy  to 
produce  anything,  in  this  primitive  period,  to  sup- 
port its  presbyterial  theory;  which  makes  bishops 
in  no  respect  other  than  presbyters,  empowered  by 
one  universal  bishop  at  Rome  to  represent  his  au- 
thority, by  his  permission  only ;  not  acting  as  em- 
powered by  Christ,  in  perfect  equality  with  all  the 
bishops  of  Christendom,  whether  at  Rome  or  Anti- 
och.  We  may  just  as  confidently  challenge  Presby- 
terians to  show,  anywhere  in  the  history  of  ages 
preceding  the  time  of  Calvin,  any  token  of  a  church 
constituted  on  Calvin's  theory.  But  his  theory  was 
an  honest  mistake,  derived  from  his  scholastic  edu- 
cation. He  had  been  always  led  to  suppose  that 
bishops  were,  what  Rome  makes  them,  mere  pres- 
byters deriving  their  episcopal  functions  from  the 
pope.     He   accepted   the   scholastic   doctrine   that 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    2$ 

presbyters  are  the  highest  order  in  the  ministry. 
What  follows  in  his  mind  is  strictly  logical.  He 
argues  thus  :  If  then  the  Papacy  is  a  fiction  (as  is 
evident  enough),  bishops,  who  are  only  the  pope's 
vicars,  must  disappear  also,  for  shadows  cannot  exist 
without  a  substance.  Thus  he  argued  and  created 
Presbyterianism  ;  most  reasonably,  if  we  grant  the 
purely  Papal  premisses  on  which  he  reasoned.  And 
yet,  even  Calvin,  who  had  never  seen  many  of  the 
early  Christian  writers  now  in  our  hands,  recognizes 
the  existence  in  primitive  ages  of  a  pure  Episcopacy, 
derived  from  Christ  and  not  from  the  Pope,  in  which 
one  presbyter  presides  over  the  brotherhood  ;  and  he 
declares  that  "  there  is  no  anathema  "  which  would 
not  be  deserved  by  anyone  unwilling  to  accept  such 
an  Episcopacy.  To  the  honour  of  English  Presby- 
terians in  the  seventeenth  century,  they,  therefore, 
placed  their  fundamental  principle  not  on  the  exclu- 
sion of  bishops,  but  on  the  admission  of  presbyters 
and  laymen  to  a  share  in  the  synodical  regimen  of 
churches ;  and  they  professed  themselves  ready, 
with  this  concession,  to  return  to  the  Church  of 
England.  The  concessions  which  they  demanded  as 
to  presbyters  and  laity,  in  synods,  are  made  in  our 
American  Church. 

Here  then  is  the  interpretation  of  ages ;  of  primi- 
tive antiquity  and  of  universal  consent ;  as  to  the 
meaning  of  Scripture  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
Apostles  empowered  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  East  and 
West,  alike,  all  the  Councils  and  all  the  Fathers  of  the 


26    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

first  ages  are  agreed  as  to  this.  Nor  does  even  the 
paradoxical  and  vindictive  Jerome,  magnifying  his 
order  as  a  presbyter  against  the  ambitious  deacons 
of  his  day,  say  anything  practically  different ;  though 
his  rhetorical  extravagances  undoubtedly  laid  the 
egg  which  the  schoolmen  hatched  when  they  pulled 
down  bishops  to  magnify  a  pope.  The  Greek 
churches,  to  this  day,  and  all  the  Easterns,  who 
have  never  recognized  the  papacy,  exhibit  the  un- 
changed system  of  the  early  Church,  as  an  irrefrag- 
able evidence  of  what  I  have  thus  presented. 

So,  then,  he  who  rejects  this  system  must  not  only 
confront  these  historic  facts,  but  he  must  face  another 
dilemma,  not  less  confounding.  If  the  Presbyterian 
or  other  similar  theory  was  that  of  the  Apostolic 
ordinances,  how  comes  it  that  before  St.  John  had 
ceased  to  teach  and  to  preside  in  the  infant  Church, 
all  traces  of  this  theory  had  so  utterly  disappeared  ? 
How  comes  it  that  nobody  protested  against  the 
changes  introduced  ?  That  no  presbytery  resisted 
the  elevation  of  one  of  their  brethren  to  a  permanent 
presidency  over  them  ?  That  no  historian  tells  us 
anything  of  this  utter  transformation  of  Church 
Order  ?  That  not  a  single  church  existed  or  was 
heard  of,  at  the  time  of  the  first  Christian  Council, 
that  was  not  constructed  in  the  Episcopal  polity  ? 
That  nobody  ever  hinted  or  imagined,  in  those 
days,  that  there  had  been  a  world-wide  revolution 
of  ideas  and  of  organization  in  the  Christian  Church, 
since  the  apostles  fell  asleep  ?     Well  does  Chilling- 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    2j 

worth  argue  that  the  metamorphoses  of  Mythology 
or  of  Arabian  fables  would  be  credible,  if  anybody 
could  credit  that  the  Apostolic  churches  were 
Presbyterian,  but  somehow,  in  a  single  night  as  it 
were,  were  all  turned  into  "  Episcopalianism  ; "  no 
man  forbidding.  And  nobody  has  ever  pretended 
to  fix  the  date  or  give  any  evidence  of  a  revolution 
the  most  marvellously  radical  and  universal  that  can 
be  imagined. 

Hence,  after  the  study  of  the  Pentecostal  age  in 
Holy  Scripture,  we  come  to  ancient  authors  as  a 
school-boy  comes  to  the  "  proof "  of  his  simple 
arithmetical  processes.  If  the  entire  Church  is  found, 
at  the  close  of  this  period,  united  in  a  system  of 
doctrine  and  polity  such  as  we  have  derived  from 
Holy  Scripture,  the  concurrence  proves  our  conclu- 
sions to  be  true.  By  the  destruction  of  this  ancient 
polity  all  our  divisions  have  been  created  ;  we  ask  a 
return  then  to  this  historic  system,  as  the  only  solu- 
tion of  our  difficulties.  This  the  Catholic  (Nicene) 
Church  requires,  hence,  on  this  point,  we  can  make 
no  compromise.  It  is  not  ours  to  give;  to  yield  is 
not  liberality,  but  treason  to  Truth.  To  insist  in  a 
spirit  of  love  is  the  highest  charity  to  our  brethren, 
who  cannot  be  restored  to  Catholic  unity  on  any 
other  base.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter 
then  is  this,  Calvin  himself  bearing  witness :  Since 
God  has  restored,  in  many  places,  that  early  system 
which  was  the  safeguard  of  unity  and  in  which  were 
digested  all  the  Scriptural  and  Primitive  Constitu- 


28    THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE  AND  GROWTH  OF 

tions  of  Unity ;  and  in  which  an  Episcopate  exists 
dependent  upon  Christ  and  not  upon  a  Papacy ; 
and  in  which  presbyters  and  laymen  may  have  their 
share  in  Synodical  Legislation ;  it  is  the  duty  of  al2 
Christians  to  heal  our  divisions  by  returning  to  this 
system.  Returning  to  this  system,  I  say ;  I  do  not 
ask  them  to  join  us ;  but,  when  they  organize  them- 
selves, accordingly,  they  will  let  us  join  them,  I 
trust.  I  dare  not  use  Calvin's  strong  language;  he 
anathematizes  all  who  would  reject  this  system, 
should  it  be  attainable.  It  would  be  contrary  to 
my  views  of  duty  to  anathematize  anybody;  but 
what  I  say  is  this :  It  is  time  for  our  Presbyterian 
brethren  to  study  the  laws  of  unity,  and  to  do  so  in 
the  spirit  of  that  love  to  Christ,  which,  for  His 
sake,  would  remove  mountains.  If  so,  they  may  re- 
store to  his  family  that  oneness,  which  Christ  Him- 
self teaches  us  is  the  condition  of  the  world's  con- 
version. Hear  His  words  :  "  That  they  all  may  be 
one.  .  .  .  That  the  world  may  believe  that 
Thou  hast  sent  Me."  And  this  unity  is  made  in- 
divisible, like  that  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  in  the 
same  passage  of  Holy  Writ. 

Observe  the  absolute  unity  of  Christian  organiza- 
tion as  left  by  St.  John.  Return  to  these  divine 
principles  is  the  only  possible  base  of  the  restora- 
tion. "  Reformation  "  must  be  incomplete  till  thus 
crowned  with  positive  conformity  to  the  pattern  in 
the  Mount,  for  which  a  negative  "protest"  has  been 
too  long  substituted.     And  let  our  brethren  observe 


THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ST.  JOHN.    29 

that  in  all  this,  as  I  have  said,  we  propose  nothing 
that  is  our  own  specialty.  Not  our  prayer-book ; 
not  our  Anglican  ideas,  prejudices,  or  customs;  not 
our  Anglo-American  peculiarities ;  not  in  any  sense 
unity  with  us — save  as,  by  coming  to  unity  with  the 
historic  Church  of  Christ,  everywhere  and  as  always 
prescribed,  they  compel  us  to  meet  them  as  Catho- 
lic and  Apostolic  brethren.  Let  them  take  their  own 
courses  ;  work  out  their  own  restoration  in  their  own 
way,  and  all  is  done.  We  care  not  a  straw  for  any 
triumph  of  our  cause,  or  of  our  local  church.  We 
plead  for  the  whole  Church.  Let  them  absorb  us, 
and  not  the  reverse,  which  they  imagine  is  our  am- 
bition. Perish  the  thought !  We  dare  not  so  think 
of  it ;  we  cherish  "  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren," 
and  in  all  we  propose,  it  is  the  love  of  Christ  that 
"  constraineth  us."  For  there  is  an  example,  in 
Holy  Scripture,  which  in  many  ways  meets  their 
case.  There  was  one  learned,  eloquent,  and  "  mighty 
in  the  Scripture,"  who  preached  Christ  with  mar- 
vellous power  and  success/  He  was  pre-eminently 
a  preacher  of  the  Gospel ;  he  had  no  equal.  What 
more  can  be  said  ?  Only  this.  He  knew  the  Word 
of  God ;  few  knew  it  so  well ;  but  he  had  yet  to 
learn  that  there  is  a  "  Way  of  God,"  clearly  recog- 
nized as  the  institution  of  Christ  and  of  His  Holy 
Spirit,  through  inspired  apostles.  This  glorious 
character,  then,  added  humility  the  most  profound 
to  all  his  other  qualities,  and  consented  to  learn  the 
"  Way  of  God  "  more  perfectly  from  two  of   the 


30  THE  PENTECOSTAL  AGE. 

humblest  members  of  the  Apostolic  Church.  Is  it 
too  much  to  ask  of  some  noble  Apollos  that  he 
would  consent  to  learn,  from  all  historic  Christen- 
dom, "  the  Way  of  God  more  perfectly  ?  "  On  this 
appeal,  I  rest  my  argument ;  and  if  it  be  not  of 
God,  may  He  raise  up  somebody  to  teach  me  His 
way,  "  more  perfectly."  May  He  give  me  the  spirit 
never  to  harden  my  heart  against  godly  men,  who 
would  speak  to  me  their  views  of  "  Truth,  in 
Love." 


Syrian  Cbristianttie  ano  tbe  Scbool  of 
Bnttocb. 


LECTURE   II. 

REV.    THOMAS    RICHEY,    D.D., 

Professor    of  Ecclesiastical    History  in    the   General   Theological 
Seminary,  New  York. 

SYRIAN    CHRISTIANITY   AND    THE 
SCHOOL  OF  ANTIOCH. 

The  subject  proposed  for  consideration  to-night 
by  the  Church  Club,  is  Syrian  Christianity  and  the 
School  of  Antioch.  It  will  not  have  escaped  your 
observation — possibly  it  may  have  been  the  occasion 
of  not  a  little  surprise — that  in  the  arrangement  of 
these  lectures  a  marked  prominence  has  been  given 
to  a  portion  of  the  Church  of  Christ  which  has 
passed  into  almost  total  oblivion,  having  long  since 
ceased  to  take  any  active  part  in  the  world's  affairs. 
The  arrangement  has  not  been  accidental.  It  was 
thought  desirable,  in  connection  with  the  cumula- 
tive character  of  the  argument  which  it  is  the  aim  of 
these  lectures  to  present,  to  give  marked  prominence 
at  the  outset  to  the  fact  that,  long  before  Greek 
Christianity  had  begun  its  course  in  the  East — be- 
fore Roman  Christianity  had  undertaken  to  play 
the  part  which  it  afterward  did  in  the  West — there 
3 


34  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

was  in  existence  a  Church  of  which  the  Syrian 
Antioch  was  the  centre  and  seat.  In  territorial  ex- 
tent the  Syrian  Church  extended  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  in  the  West  to  the  Caucasian  Mountains 
and  the  Caspian  Sea  in  the  East ;  to  the  Erythrean 
Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf  on  the  South.  It  will  be 
remembered,  moreover,  that  Syrian  Christianity 
was  in  an  especial  degree  the  creation  of  the  great 
teacher  of  the  Gentiles,  S.  Paul.  It  was  at  Anti- 
och, in  Syria,  that  S.  Paul  first  entered  upon  the 
active  duties  of  his  ministry.  Antioch  was  the  cen- 
tre of  the  first  great  missionary  movement  which 
had  for  its  result  the  conversion  of  the  Western 
world.  The  witness  which  a  Church  so  widespread 
in  its  extent,  and  so  mighty  in  its  influence — Orien- 
tal, not  Greek  or  Roman,  in  its  character — bears  to 
the  primitive  type  of  Christianity  is  of  a  peculiar 
kind.  It  is  the  witness  of  a  Church  which  cannot 
be  charged  with  excessive  hierarchical  pretension  on 
the  one  hand,  or  with  love  of  worldly  power  on  the 
other.  It  brings  us  back  to  the  Apostolic  age,  and 
the  days  when  the  Church,  as  the  virgin  bride  of 
Christ,  had  not  as  yet  entered  into  any  entangling 
alliances  with  the  powers  of  the  world.  Before 
Constantinople  was  founded — while  Rome  was  still 
a  pagan  city — Antioch,  for  some  three  hundred 
years,  was  the  centre  of  Christian  influence  for  both 
East  and  West. 

There  is  another  reason  why  the  Church  of  Syria 
is  to  be  recognized  as  of  special  value  in  any  study 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  35 

of  the  constitution  and  practice  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian Church.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  the  pur- 
pose of  Divine  Providence  to  make  special  provi- 
sion that  the  shoot,  which  in  due  course  of  time 
was  to  be  transplanted  from  the  Holy  Land  to 
grow  and  flourish  in  a  foreign  soil,  should  have  pre- 
pared for  its  reception  something  of  the  nature  of  a 
forcing  process,  or  hot-bed,  where  the  plant  will 
soon  arrive  at  maturity,  and  opportunity  shall  also 
be  given  for  everything  of  the  nature  of  heretical 
pravity  to  develop  itself  speedily.  It  is  a  marked 
peculiarity  of  the  Syrian  Church  in  the  East  (as  we 
shall  find  it  to  be  also  of  the  North  African  Church 
in  the  West,)  that  its  disciples  were  men  of  warm 
and  ardent  temperament,  who  received  Christianity 
with  all  the  ardor  and  intensity  of  their  nature,  and 
were  not  satisfied  to  rest  content  with  a  religion  of 
abstract  propositions  or  mere  logical  conceptions. 
Christianity  in  Syria  sprung  in  a  moment,  as  it 
were,  into  a  thriving  and  vigorous  life.  Churches 
grew  and  multiplied  with  a  rapidity  of  which  we 
know  nothing  in  modern  times.  If  they  declined  as 
rapidly  as  they  came  to  life,  it  does  not  make  the 
study  of  their  growth  and  development  less  valu- 
able, but  more  so. 

When  Jerusalem  fell,  Antioch  became  to  the 
Christian  world  the  centre  of  light  and  influence. 
It  was  at  that  time  the  third  great  city  in  the 
world.  In  some  respects  indeed  it  had  no  equal. 
Antioch  could  boast  of  three  things  which  made  it 


$6  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

the  pride  and  glory  of  ancient  civilization.  It  had 
a  situation  unequalled,  even  by  Constantinople  it- 
self. It  lay  under  the  shadow  of  the  Lebanon,  only 
sixteen  miles  distant  from  the  Mediterranean.  It 
was  watered  by  the  cool  stream  of  the  Orontes. 
Libanius  tells  us  that  every  house  in  Antioch  had 
an  abundant  supply  of  water,  and  enjoyed  the  lux- 
ury of  the  bath.  The  main  street  of  the  city  was 
four  and  a  half  miles  in  length,  and  was  paved  with 
magnificent  stones,  so  that  it  surpassed  the  great 
Roman  highways.  A  corridor  ran  throughout  the 
whole  length  of  the  street,  by  which  the  inhabitants 
were  at  once  guarded  from  the  heat  of  the  sun  in 
summer,  and  from  exposure  to  rain  and  snow  in 
winter.  Libanius  tells  us  moreover  that  the  whole 
of  that  magnificent  thoroughfare  was  lighted  with 
lamps,  so  that  the  night  could  scarcely  be  distin- 
guished from  the  day  ;  he  adds  that  Antioch  was 
the  only  city  of  the  ancient  world  which  was  so 
lighted.  It  was  to  this  city — the  great  summer  re- 
sort of  the  nations  of  the  earth — in  luxury  of  living 
the  Paris  of  the  time — that  the  Christians  fled  for 
refuge  when,  upon  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  they 
were  compelled  to  abandon  Jerusalem  and  had  to 
seek  a  new  centre  for  the  extension  of  the  Christian 
faith.  It  was  here  that  S.  Paul  began  his  mission- 
ary work,  and  went  forth  to  the  conversion  of  the 
nations. 

The  story  is  told  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  that 
he  sat  down  to  weep  when  he  had  no  more  worlds 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  37 

to  conquer  ;  we  all  know  what  it  is  which  makes  the 
name  of  Caesar  a  name  that  is  still  remembered 
among  men  ;  but  what  was  the  work  of  Alexander 
of  Macedon,  or  the  conquests  of  Julius  Caesar,  in 
comparison  with  the  work  which  S.  Paul,  the  great 
apostle  and  missionary  of  the  Gentiles,  set  before 
him  when  he  went  forth  from  Antioch  to  plant  the 
cross  of  Christ  in  every  land  ?  Never  until  that 
hour  had  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  con- 
ceive of  uniting  all  men  in  the  bonds  of  a  common 
brotherhood,  by  proclaiming  God  to  be  the  Father 
of  us  all.  When  the  Jew  looked  out  upon  the 
world  and  thought  of  its  conversion,  he  thought 
only  of  national  conquest.  But  when  S.  Paul  ap- 
prehended in  all  its  fulness  the  mystery  of  the  cross 
of  Christ,  all  thoughts  of  national  barriers  and  dis- 
tinctions of  race  were  obliterated  and  passed  away 
forever.  Antioch,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  became  a  missionary  centre  for  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  world.  It  was, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  a  city  specially  fitted  for  be- 
coming the  basis  of  operation  for  such  a  work.  In 
situation  it  belonged  to  the  Orient ;  by  conquest  it 
had  become  Greek  ;  in  course  of  time  it  passed  from 
the  Greeks  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman  power. 
Antioch  was  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word  a 
cosmopolitan  city.  Every  country,  every  nationality 
had  representatives  there  ;  it  was  a  place  eminently 
fitted  to  become  the  seat  of  a  Catholic  religion — a 
centre  of  light  and  influence  for  the  whole  world. 


38  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

I  count  myself  happy  that,  in  the  arrangement  of 
these  lectures,  I  have  had  assigned  to  me  for  a  sub- 
ject a  topic  of  such  very  varied  and  surpassing  in- 
terest as  the  Syrian  Church  and  the  see  of  Antioch. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  all  literature  a  more 
romantic  story  than  that  which  is  furnished  by  the 
history  and  fortunes  of  the  Epistles  of  S.  Ignatius, 
the  second  Bishop  of  the  see  of  Antioch  after  the 
times  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul.  It  was  just  after  the 
discovery  of  the  art  of  printing — about  the  year 
1497 — that  there  came  to  light  in  the  West  twelve 
epistles  on  which  was  inscribed  the  name  of  Igna- 
tius. In  addition  to  these,  five  others  were  found 
which  bore  the  same  name,  but  which  upon  compar- 
ison proved  to  be  spurious  compilations  of  a  later 
age.  Some  time  after,  Archbishop  Usher,  in  the 
course  of  his  investigations  in  England — I  think 
about  the  year  1644 — discovered  a  Latin  translation 
of  the  Seven  Short  Epistles  (as  they  are  called)  of 
the  great  Syrian  Father.  Two  years  subsequently 
to  this,  there  were  discovered  six  Greek  epistles  by 
Vossius,  which  corresponded  exactly  with  the  Latin 
epistles  of  Archbishop  Usher ;  and  the  year  fol- 
lowing, there  was  found  in  Florence  an  epistle  of 
S.  Ignatius  to  the  Romans,  which  made  the  number 
of  the  seven  short  Greek  epistles  complete.  Here, 
then,  you  have  in  existence  twelve  longer  epistles  in 
Latin  claiming  the  name  of  Ignatius,  with  five  ad- 
mitted on  all  sides  to  be  spurious ;  and  seven 
shorter  epistles,  both  in  Greek  and  Latin,  bearing  the 


SCHOOL    OF  ANT10CH.  39 

same  honored  name.  The  controversy  on  the  whole 
subject  of  the  Ignatian  literature  became  at  this  time 
embittered  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  element  of 
religious  strife.  Upon  the  one  side  were  arrayed 
those  of  the  Continental  Reformers  who  were  op- 
posed to  Episcopacy,  and  who  were  disposed  with 
Calvin  to  denounce  the  whole  thing  as  a  figment 
of  a  later  age ;  on  the  other  hand  the  great  Pearson, 
in  England,  undertook  the  defence  of  the  seven 
shorter  epistles  of  Vossius  and  of  Archbishop  Usher. 
And  now  comes  the  third  part  of  the  story.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  twelve  Latin  epistles  and  the  seven 
shorter  epistles  in  Latin  and  in  Greek,  Archdeacon 
Tatham,  when  travelling  in  the  Holy  Land  in  the 
year  1843,  discovered  in  a  monastery  three  epistles 
of  S.  Ignatius  written  in  Syriac,  and  of  a  still  shorter 
form  than  the  Greek  and  Latin  epistles  of  Vossius 
and  Usher.  You  have  in  existence,  then  (in  addi- 
tion to  the  twelve  original  Latin  epistles  and  the 
seven  shorter  epistles  in  Latin  and  in  Greek),  three 
Syriac  epistles,  differing  from  both  in  number  and 
in  form. 

The  controversy  in  England  now  assumed  a  new 
shape ;  the  best  scholars  there  (with  the  exception 
of  the  late  Bishop  of  Lincoln)  were  disposed  to  ac- 
cept the  three  short  Syriac  epistles  as  the  genuine 
remains  of  S.  Ignatius.  But,  just  as  the  minds  of  En- 
glish scholars  were  settling  down  in  this  conviction, 
Professor  Peterman  discovered  an  Armenian  copy  of 
the  writings  of   Ignatius.     This  Armenian  copy  had 


40  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

the  seven  shorter  Epistles  of  Vossius  and  Archbishop 
Usher. 

The  controversy  entered  again  upon  a  new  stage. 
The  Bishop  of  Durham,  the  learned  Dr.  Lightfoot, 
had  been  disposed  to  accept  the  Syriac  Epistles  as 
the  only  genuine  remains  of  S.  Ignatius.  But  upon 
further  consideration,  after  the  discovery  of  Profes- 
sor Peterman,  he  was  induced  to  undertake  a  new 
examination  of  the  whole  question  of  the  Ignatian 
literature.  For  thirty  years  he  prosecuted  his  task. 
He  had  search  made  in  every  part  of  the  known 
world,  wherever  any  trace  of  the  writings  of  Ignatius 
could  be  found  ;  he  examined,  either  in  person  or 
by  deputy,  every  manuscript  that  was  accessible 
in  every  library  in  Europe.  The  result  has  been  the 
editing  of  the  writings  of  the  great  Syriac  Father, 
according  to  the  best  manuscripts,  wherever  found : 
and  the  declaration,  after  thirty  years'  of  patient  toil, 
upon  authority  that  will  not  be  questioned  by  any 
scholar  of  the  nineteenth  century,  that  the  seven 
shorter  Epistles  of  Vossius  and  of  Archbishop 
Usher,  as  found  in  Latin  and  in  Greek,  are  the  true 
writings  of  S.  Ignatius. 

I  know  of  nothing,  in  the  history  of  either  sacred 
or  profane  literature,  more  interesting  than  this.  For 
not  less  than  four  hundred  years  has  the  contro- 
versy over  the  genuine  writings  of  S.  Ignatius  been 
going  on.  It  is  a  controversy  which  has  enlisted 
in  it  some  of  the  greatest  names  of  modern  times, 
and  must  now  be  regarded  as  set  at  rest  forever. 


SCHOOL    OF  A  NT  J OCR.  4* 

But  it  is  not  the  literature  of  the  Ignatian  Epis- 
tles that  chiefly  interests  us  to-night.  The  contest 
regarding  the  validity  of  the  writings  of  S.  Ignatius 
has  been  so  protracted  (and  at  times  so  intensely 
bitter),  for  the  reason  that  on  the  testimony  of  S. 
Ignatius,  more  than  any  other  of  the  early  Fathers, 
depends  the  settlement  of  the  vexed  question  of  the 
Apostolic  origin  of  the  Episcopate,  in  opposition  to 
the  Calvinistic  theory  of  Presbyterian  Ordination. 
It  is  our  own  good  fortune  that  in  our  day  and  gen- 
eration that  question  has  been  finally  settled.  We 
are  able  to  produce  as  a  witness  one  who  was  the 
familiar  and  friend  of  a  well-known  disciple  of  S. 
John — the  last  link  between  the  Apostolic  and  the 
post-Apostolic  age.  The  witness  is  one,  you  will 
permit  me  again  to  remind  you,  who  belongs  neither 
to  the  later  Greek  Church  of  the  East,  nor  to  the 
Roman  Church,  but  represents  the  earlier  and  virgin 
age  of  the  Church,  when  the  light  kindled  by  S. 
John  in  Asia  Minor  still  burned  with  an  intense  and 
ardent  flame.  What  then  is  the  testimony  which  S. 
Ignatius  gives  regarding  the  Church's  unity,  and  as 
to  the  means  of  preserving  it  unbroken  for  the  gen- 
erations yet  to  come  ?  In  every  one  of  his  Epistles 
Ignatius  asserts,  with  reiterated  emphasis,  that  the 
Episcopate  is  the  great  bond  of  moral  unity ;  that 
apart  from  the  bishop,  there  is  no  approach  to  the 
altar;  no  way  of  entering  into  fellowship  with 
the  Church  of  the  living  God.  To  judge  aright  of 
the  value  of  his  testimony,  you  must  call  to  mind 


42  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND    THE 

the  way  in  which  it  reaches  us,  and  the  peculiar 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  given.  What  is 
the  nature  of  these  Seven  Short  Epistles  of  S.  Igna- 
tius ?  What  were  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  were  written  ?  What  was  the  object  of  the 
writer  in  setting  them  forth  ?  Let  us  bring  S.  Ig- 
natius himself  as  a  witness  into  court  (I  am 
speaking  in  the  ears  of  men  skilled  in  taking  testi- 
mony, and  who  know  the  value  of  evidence),  and 
let  us  examine  him  regarding  his  object  in  the  writ- 
ing of  these  letters — the  time  and  the  place  when 
and  where  they  were  first  given  to  the  world. 
"  What  object  had  you,  Ignatius,  in  the  writing  of 
these  Epistles  ?  "  "  I  wrote  them,"  he  answers,  "  as 
simple  letters,  declaring  what  I  found  upon  my  jour- 
ney from  Antioch  (of  which  city  I  was  the  Bishop)  to 
Rome,  where  I  was  called  to  die  for  the  truth,  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  and  the  fortieth  year  of  my 
Episcopate."  "  The  journey  from  Antioch  to  Rome 
is  a  long  one — what  course  did  you  take,  and  what 
incidents  of  importance  befel  you  by  the  way?" 
"  We  took  the  usual  route  from  Antioch  to  Seleucia, 
and  proceeded  thence  by  sea.  We  stopped  to  rest 
at  Smyrna,  and  I  was  glad  to  avail  myself  of  the 
opportunity  to  visit  the  holy  Polycarp,  then  Bishop 
of  the  Smyrnaeans.  Three  of  the  neighboring 
Bishops,  with  their  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  when 
they  heard  of  my  arrival,  came  to  see  me,  and  I 
availed  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  send  greeting 


SCHOOL    OF  AJVTIOCH.  43 

to  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor."  "  Why  did  you 
write  these  letters  to  the  Philadelphians,  to  the 
Magnesians,  to  the  Trallians,  and  to  the  Church  at 
Rome  ?  "  "I  wrote  them  because  the  men  who  had 
me  in  their  toils  would  not  permit  me  to  take  these 
Churches  in  my  way,  and  I  was  especially  anxious 
that  the  brethren  at  Rome  should  not  do  anything 
to  prevent  my  receiving  the  Crown  of  Martyrdom 
for  which  I  longed."  "  Did  you  make  any  other 
stops  besides  that  at  Smyrna  ?  "  "  Yes,  we  halted 
again  at  Troas,  and  there  I  had  the  chance  to  write 
to  the  Churches  of  Ephesus  and  Smyrna,  and  to 
Polycarp."  "  Who  was  this  Polycarp,  to  whom 
you  paid  such  honor  and  respect  ?"  "  Polycarp  was, 
as  I  have  said,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  and  he  was  the 
disciple  of  S.  John,  the  last  link  in  the  line  of  the 
men  of  the  past  generation.  He  had  been  privileged 
to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  Beloved  Disciple,  and  to 
hear  from  his  own  lips  the  things  which  had  been 
taught  him  by  his  dear  Lord  and  Master." 

Such  is  the  simple  story  of  Ignatius  and  his  jour- 
ney to  Rome.  It  will  be  observed  that  in  writing 
his  epistles,  Ignatius  was  not  writing  a  book  to  prove 
the  existence  of  the  Episcopate.  He  never  thought 
of  such  a  thing.  There  is  no  thought  of  contro- 
versy in  his  mind.  He  is  upon  a  journey  and  he 
tells  us  in  simple  letters  what  he  found  upon  his 
way.  He  gives  you  the  names  of  the  Churches,  and 
he  tells  you  that  in  every  Church  with  which  he  was 
brought  into  contact  in  Asia  Minor,  he  found  exist- 


44  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

ing  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons.  He  gives  you 
the  names  of  the  Churches  and  their  Bishops.  The 
Churches  which  he  addresses  (with  the  exception  of 
Rome)  had  Ephesus  for  their  centre.  It  was  at 
Ephesus  that  S.  John,  the  last  of  the  Apostles,  spent 
the  last  years  of  his  life.  He  was  left,  while  the 
others  were  taken  away  by  violent  deaths,  that  he 
might  perfect  the  organization  of  the  Church.  He 
left  behind  him  in  Smyrna  his  disciple  Polycarp. 
It  was  to  Polycarp,  Ignatius  (who  began  the  work 
of  his  ministry  probably  in  the  year  70  and  carried 
it  on  for  forty  years,  to  the  year  1 10)  left  the  care  of 
the  Church  of  Antioch ;  and,  as  a  successor  of  the 
apostles,  gave  it  into  his  hands. 

Take  into  consideration  the  whole  of  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  writing  of  these  Epistles 
of  S.  Ignatius,  and  you  will  agree  with  me,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  in  thinking  that  the  evidence  of  such  a 
witness  to  the  existence  of  a  threefold  order  of  min- 
istry in  his  day  is  indisputable  and  complete. 

So  much  for  the  nature  of  the  evidence  itself. 
But  why  does  Ignatius  contend,  as  he  confessedly 
does,  for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Episcopate  ?  Is 
he  maintaining  a  theory  ?  or  is  he  dealing  with  a 
felt  necessity,  and  an  incontrovertible  fact  ?  The 
reason  which  Ignatius  himself  gives  is  that  the  exist*- 
ence  of  the  Episcopate  was  necessary  to  the  integrity 
of  the  faith,  and  to  its  perpetuation  unadulterated 
to  succeeding  generations.  The  Episcopate,  in  the 
judgment  of  Ignatius,  is  the  representative  of  the 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCII.  45 

great  principle  of  moral  unity,  and  is  accordingly 
the  divinely  ordained  safeguard  against  all  heretical 
pravity,  and  schismatical  division  in  the  family  of 
God. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  religious  world 
as  Ignatius  found  it  in  his  day  and  generation. 
There  were  not  less  than  some  three  hundred  and 
sixty  schools  of  thought  in  existence  at  the  time. 
Nor  were  the  philosophical  teachers  of  the  age  mere 
dialecticians  :  they  were  moral  teachers,  and  they 
professed  to  show  men  the  way  to  lead  a  happier 
and  a  better  life.  Three  hundred  and  sixty  schools  ! 
One  for  every  day  in  the  year  almost.  But  worse 
than  the  philosophers  themselves,  and  more  dif- 
ficult to  deal  with,  were  the  men  who,  under  the 
names  of  Gnostics,  or  Rationalists,  as  we  should  call 
them  now,  sought  to  mingle  together  religion  and 
philosophy,  and  set  up  schools  and  systems  of  their 
own  to  take  the  place  of  the  Church  of  the  Apostles. 
Now  it  is  in  opposition  to  these  corrupters  of  the 
faith,  Ignatius  asserts  the  principle  that  Christian- 
ity is  not  an  abstract  or  philosophical  system,  but 
involves  in  its  very  inception  the  idea  of  moral  obe- 
dience. The  doctrines  of  Christianity,  he  main- 
tains, are  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  logical  ex- 
ponents of  its  facts  ;  and  it  is  to  the  facts  of  the 
supernatural  birth,  and  miraculous  life,  and  atoning 
death  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  apostles,  and  their 
successors  in  the  Catholic  Church  (a  phrase  for  the 
first  time  met  with  in  the  Epistles  of  S.  Ignatius) 


46  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

were  ordained  to  bear  witness.  It  is  not  only,  or 
chiefly,  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  that  we  have  to 
consider  (for  that  were  to  reduce  Christianity  to  a 
speculative  system),  but  primarily  and  first  of  all, 
we  have  to  deal  with  the  credibility  and  character 
of  the  witnesses.  It  was  to  bear  witness  that  the 
apostles  were  chosen  and  set  apart  by  Christ  as  the 
Sent  of  God ;  it  was  to  perpetuate  their  testimony 
that  the  apostles,  when  called  away,  chose  and  set 
apart  others  to  take  their  place.  It  will  be  seen  at 
a  glance,  then,  why  Ignatius  insists,  as  he  does,  upon 
obedience  to  the  Bishop  as  the  only  true  mark  of 
Christian  fellowship.  It  was  not  with  him  a  question 
of  mere  truth  and  error — for  there  were  many  things 
which  Christianity  had  in  common  with  the  schools 
of  the  philosophers — the  real  question  at  issue  was, 
whether  the  professed  teacher  was  an  accredited  wit- 
ness to  the  truth  as  it  had  been  received  from  the 
apostles,  and  was  in  possession  of  the  due  authority 
to  educate  and  train  up  in  the  faith  those  who  had 
been  baptized  into  the  name  of  Jesus.  It  was,  in 
other  words,  a  moral  and  historical  question,  involv- 
ing habits  of  moral  obedience  and  humility,  and  not 
a  question  of  the  reception  of  mere  abstract  truths 
and  speculations.  The  Episcopate  was  the  guardian 
of  the  faith,  because  it  was  the  duly  certified  witness 
to  the  facts  to  which  the  apostles  bore  witness.  It 
was  not,  it  will  be  observed,  a  question  of  "  tactual 
succession,"  as  has  been  profanely  said ;  nor  was  it  a 
question  of  mere  ecclesiastical  arrangement ;  it  was  to 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  47 

the  men  of  that  age  a  question  involving  the  credi- 
bility of  witness,  and  the  determination  of  the  fact, 
whether  the  person  professing  to  guide  and  to  teach 
had  entered  in  by  the  door,  and  was  sent  by  the 
true  Shepherd  of  the  sheep ;  or  had  climbed  up  some 
other  way,  and  had  stamped  upon  him  the  brand  of 
a  thief  and  robber.  A  single  illustration  will  make 
our  meaning  plain.  The  origin  and  nature  of  evil 
was  one  of  the  questions  hotly  disputed  in  the  early 
days  of  Christianity,  as  it  is  now,  and  has  been  ever 
since.  The  Gnostic  teachers  of  the  time,  without 
exception,  held  to  the  doctrine  of  dualism  and  the 
eternity  of  matter :  this  was  the  generally  received 
doctrine  of  all  philosophical  schools,  both  East  and 
West.  Christianity  too  taught  a  belief  in  the  ex- 
istence of  evil,  but  denied  that  Evil  was  eternal,  or 
that  it  had  any  existence  in  itself  apart  from  the 
Good.  It  was  to  meet  this  error  of  the  Gnostic 
teachers  of  the  age  that  the  first  article  was  inserted 
in  the  Creed,  affirming  the  sovereign  power  of  God 
the  Father  Almighty,  and  declaring  Him  to  be  the 
maker  of  all  things  both  in  heaven  and  earth.  The 
article  in  the  Creed  was  no  empty  profession  of  faith , 
it  was  no  mere  assertion  of  an  abstract  doctrine  or 
belief.  It  had  to  be  recited  by  every  candidate  for 
baptism,  and  was  solemnly  delivered  to  the  catechu- 
men, on  the  eve  of  their  baptism,  by  the  Bishop  him- 
self as  the  head  of  the  congregation  and  the  keeper  of 
the  faith.  The  faith  then  was  not  Embodied  as  it  is 
now,  a  written  formula,  but  was  orally  delivered  by 


48  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

the  living  witness  to  the  apostolic  tradition  ;  and  was 
openly  confessed  by  the  person  seeking  admission, 
before  the  whole  Church.  The  bond  between  the 
recipient  and  the  bestower  was  a  living  and  personal 
bond,  and  of  necessity  involved  living  and  personal 
relationships  of  loyalty  and  faith,  and  obedience  to 
the  authoritative  witness  to  the  belief  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  in  opposition  to  the  men  who  were 
tainted  with  the  rationalism  of  the  philosophic 
schools.  In  other  words,  in  historical  Christianity 
you  cannot  separate  the  faith,  as  it  is  authoritatively 
set  forth  in  the  Creed  of  the  Church,  from  the 
teacher ;  and  the  teacher,  in  opposition  to  the 
many-voiced  Babel  of  speculative  rationalism,  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  teachings  of  the  Epistles  of  S.  Ignatius, 
the  Bishop,  as  the  representative  of  the  moral  unity 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  Church. 

Will  you  say  to  me — This  may  all  be  true,  but 
Gnosticism  is  a  thing  of  the  past ;  times  differ,  and 
men  in  the  nineteenth  century  cannot  be  dealt  with 
as  men  in  the  ninth  century,  and  the  primitive  ages 
of  the  Church.  I  answer — The  moral  nature  of  man 
is  the  same  in  every  age,  requires  the  same  spiritual 
remedies.  Error  now  is  the  same  as  it  was  at  first ; 
the  name  and  the  appearance  may  change,  but  the 
substance  is  the  same.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  book 
entitled,  "  The  Ten  Religions  of  the  World."  It  is 
written  by  one  of  the  ablest  representatives  of  mod- 
ern thought,  whose  boast  is  that  he  is  free  from  the 
trammels  of  tradition,  and  is  in  advance  of  the  spirit 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  49 

of  the  past.  What  then  does  this  teacher — who  looks 
upon  Christianity  as  another  philosophy,  and  com- 
pares it  with  the  religious  systems  of  Confucius  and 
Zoroaster,  and  Buddha — tell  us  about  the  problem 
of  good  and  evil  ?  What  is  his  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery ;  and  how  does  it  differ  from  the  Rationalistic 
and  Gnostic  systems  of  the  early  days  of  Christian- 
ity ?  This  then  is  the  answer  which  James  Free- 
man Clarke  gives  to  the  question,  in  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton, in  the  nineteenth  century  :  "  Some  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  we  find  in  the  actual  constitution  of 
things  would  be  removed,"  he  says,  "  if  we  accept  the 
view  that,  while  God  is  the  creator  and  preserver  of 
the  universe  as  a  whole,  he  has  permitted  beings  in- 
ferior to  himself,  but  vastly  superior  to  man,  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  creation  in  subordination  to  his  own 
universal  laws.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  seen 
how  probable  it  is,  that  there  is  an  immense  hierar- 
chy of  intelligences  extending  upward  from  man 
toward  God.  Some  of  these  may  possess  such  large 
wisdom,  such  resources  of  reason,  and  insight  as  to  be 
able,  by  making  use  of  God's  laws,  to  create  new  races 
of  plants  and  animals  such  as  we  see  in  the  earth. 
They  would  be  creators  under  God  just  as  man  is  a 
creator  under  God.  Man's  inventions  are  creations. 
Man  has  invented  the  plow,  the  pump,  the  carriage, 
the  ship,  by  making  himself  acquainted  with  what 
we  call  the  laws  of  nature.  But  these  laws  are  only 
the  ever-present  agency  of  God.  He  fills  all  in  all. 
He  holds  the  universe  in  every  atom  by  the  mys- 
4 


50  SYRIAN   CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

terious  power  of  gravitation.  And  though  man,  in 
his  higher  nature,  derives  his  being  directly  from  God, 
as  the  idea  of  right,  of  wrong,  cause  and  effect,  and 
the  reason  which  contains  the  light  of  the  infinite 
and  eternal,  testify,  yet  his  lower  bodily  nature,  by 
which  he  is  allied  to  other  animals,  may  have  been 
gradually  developed  by  the  inventive  powers  of  sub- 
ordinate beings."  It  seems  incredible,  and  yet  it  is 
true,  that  a  professedly  Christian  teacher  in  the 
nineteenth  century  puts  forth  exactly  the  same 
theory  of  a  Demiourgos  or  world-maker,  to  account 
for  the  mystery  of  evil,  which  the  Gnostic  teachers 
Saturninus,  Basilides,  and  Valentinus  of  the  first  ages 
of  the  Church  set  forth  in  their  day.  It  is  a  denial 
of  the  first  article  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  is  the 
very  same  "  theory  "  of  "  the  constitution  of  things  " 
which  that  article  was  expressly  framed  to  condemn. 
The  writer  doubtless  would  deny  that  he  intended 
to  contravene  by  his  theory  the  fundamental  verities 
of  the  Christian  faith  ;•  but  his  denial  does  not  affect 
the  question  that  the  dogmasof  the  Christian  Church 
are  one  thing,  the  philosophical  speculations  of  ra- 
tionalistic teachers  another  and  a  very  different 
thing — that  there  is  no  hope  of  return  to  Christian 
unity  except  on  the  bases  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and 
the  recognition  of  some  properly  constituted  author- 
ity to  set  at  naught  the  vain  speculations  of  ignorant 
and  foolish  men.  Nor  let  our  object  be  mistaken  in 
making  such  a  claim.  It  is  not  the  case  that  the 
Church  has  ever  deliberately  set  out  to  make  a  creed, 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  5  I 

or  has  ever  sought  to  impose  her  own  arbitrary  decrees 
upon  the  consciences  of  men.  Had  she  been  only- 
left  to  do  her  proper  work,  the  Church  would  gladly 
have  rested  in  her  implicit  beliefs,  and  would  wil- 
lingly have  been  spared  the  trouble  of  calling  her 
bishops  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other  to 
give  explicit  expression  to  the  articles  of  her  faith. 
It  was  unbelief,  and  the  gainsaying  of  unlearned  and 
foolish  men,  which  compelled  the  Church  to  formu- 
late the  faith.  There  is  not  an  article  of  the  Creed 
which  the  Church  has  ever  made  out  of  whole  cloth 
(if  you  will  permit  me  so  to  speak).  If  the  Church 
has  ever  formulated  the  faith,  it  was  because  she  was 
forced  so  to  do  in  opposition  to  the  efforts  made  to 
draw  men  away  from  the  simplicity  and  integrity  of 
the  faith  into  the  acceptance  of  the  fine-spun  theories 
of  the  teachers  of  error.  It  is  as  true  of  every  article 
of  the  Creed  as  it  is  of  the  first  article,  that  it  had 
its  origin  in  some  perversion  of  the  faith  ;  and  it  may 
with  truth  be  affirmed  that  no  person  to-day  is  com- 
petent to  give  an  intelligent  opinion  regarding  the 
faith,  as  it  is  embodied  in  the  Creed  of  the  Church, 
who  is  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  error  which  it 
is  the  aim  of  the  several  articles  to  controvert.  It 
is  this  that  makes  the  work  of  Archbishop  King 
upon  the  Creed  of  inestimable  value  to  the  proper 
understanding  of  the  faith. 

I  have  taken  an  illustration  from  the  doctrinal 
and  speculative  sphere  to  prove  the  necessity  that 
exists  of  our  having  recourse  to  the  teaching  and 


$2  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

polity  of  the  Apostolic  Age,  if  we  are  ever  to  reach 
any  sure  basis  for  the  restoration  of  the  unity  of 
Christendom.  I  shall  now,  with  your  permission, 
take  another  illustration  from  the  liturgical  and  de- 
votional sphere,  in  proof  of  a  similar  necessity,  in 
things  affecting  the  polity  and  practice  of  the 
Church.  It  was  a  surprise  to  many  of  us  to  hear,  as 
we  have  lately  been  informed  by  a  distinguished  de- 
nominational teacher  of  our  own  city,  that  Easter — 
the  glorious  festival  of  the  resurrection — is  a  com- 
pound of  heathenism  and  Judaism,  and  is  to  be  re- 
jected by  educated  Christian  men  as  a  relic  of  the 
dark  ages.  It  is  surely  to  be  regretted  that,  at  a  time 
when  men  would  seem  to  be  striving  together  in  an 
effort  to  secure  Christian  unity,  such  a  statement 
should  have  been  made.  If  Easter-tide  were  only  a 
religious  sentiment,  it  might  surely  claim  respectful 
consideration  from  all  believing  in  the  fact  of  the 
Resurrection ;  but  when  it  is  capable  of  proof,  that 
the  settlement  of  the  Easter  question  in  opposition 
to  Judaism  is  one  of  the  best  attested  facts  of  early, 
primitive  Christianity,  we  can  only  wonder  at  the 
way  in  which  religious  prejudice  can  pervert  the 
minds  of  men,  and  raise  up  barriers  of  separation 
which  it  is  not  even  in  the  power  of  historical 
criticism  to  overcome.  The  early  Church  had  its 
ritualistic  controversies  even  as  we  have  them  now. 
The  great  question  which  agitated  the  Church,  for 
the  first  three  hundred  years  of  its  existence,  was  the 
proper  time  for  the  keeping  of  the  Easter  festival. 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  53 

There  was,  in  the  Syrian  church  and  in  the  churches 
of  Asia  Minor,  a  strong  Ebionitish  or  Jewish  party, 
made  up  chiefly  of  Hebrew  converts  and  their 
sympathizers,  who  contended  that  the  Christian 
church  should  follow  the  example  of  the  Jewish 
church,  and  keep  the  great  festival  of  Redemption  on 
the  14th  day  of  Nisan — the  day  of  the  Jewish  pass- 
over — on  whatever  day  of  the  week  the  14th  of 
Nisan  might  fall.  There  was  much  in  favor  of  such 
a  practice.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  reasons 
why  the  Christian  feast  should  not  be  kept  on  the 
same  day  as  the  Jewish  passover.  It  was  desirable, 
in  the  first  place,  to  draw  as  markedly  as  possible 
the  line  of  difference  between  Judaism  and  Christi- 
anity. It  was  for  this  reason  that  Christians  from 
the  first  did  not  keep  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 
as  the  day  for  their  religious  convocations  ;  but  the 
first  day  of  the  week — the  day  of  the  Resurrection. 
It  was  thought  desirable  also  to  give  marked  promi- 
nence to  the  truth,  that  Christianity  is  not  only 
the  completion  of  the  old  sacrificial  and  legal 
economy,  but  is  also  the  beginning  of  a  new 
economy — the  entering  in  of  a  new  life,  and  the  set- 
ting up  of  a  new  kingdom  in  the  world.  And  for 
this  reason  again,  the  feast  ought  to  take  place  at  the 
beginning  of  the  week  and  not,  in  any  case,  toward 
its  close.  For  three  hundred  years  the  fight  went 
on  between  the  Friday,  as  we  may  say,  or  the  Sun- 
day after.  It  was  not  an  easy  question  to  settle. 
Regard  must  be  had  to  the  prejudices  of  the  Hebrew 


54  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND    THE 

converts  upon  the  one  hand,  and  upon  the  other 
nothing  must  be  left  undone  to  assert  the  great 
principle  that,  in  rising  again  from  the  dead  our 
Lord  rose  as  the  head  of  the  new  creation,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  new  system  of  things  :  it  was  found 
necessary  to  symbolize  the  truth  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  above  all  else  a  Catholic  Church  which 
knows  no  people  nor  nationality,  but  accords  equal 
privileges  to  Jew  and  to  Greek,  to  barbarian  and 
civilized,  to  bound  and  to  free.  We  find  the  matter 
in  dispute  as  early  as  the  time  of  Polycarp,  the 
disciple  of  S.  John.  Polycarp  went  to  Rome  to 
hold  counsel  about  the  matter  with  Anicetus.  Poly- 
carp contended  that  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor 
must  be  left  to  follow  their  own  customs,  which 
had  been  taught  them,  he  said,  by  S.  John  when 
from  Ephesus  he  ruled  over  the  churches  within  his 
reach.  The  bishop  of  Rome  agreed  that  it  was 
best  for  the  present  that  the  East  should  follow  its 
own  traditions,  and  he  allowed  the  venerable  Poly- 
carp to  celebrate  the  Easter  festival  in  the  city  of 
Rome  after  his  own  way. 

But  the  lapse  of  time  brought  a  change  both  in 
Asia  Minor,  and  in  Rome  and  the  West.  It  is  one 
thing  to  yield  for  the  time  being,  in  a  conciliatory 
spirit,  to  the  prejudiced  and  the  weak  ;  it  is  another, 
to  sacrifice  an  important  principle  when  the  occasiop 
has  passed  away  for  a  reasonable  demand  for  requir- 
ing the  sacrifice.  In  the  time  of  Victor  it  was  felt 
that  there  was  no  reason  why  the  East  should  con- 


SCHOOL  OF  ANTIOCH.  55 

tinue  any  longer  to  differ  from  the  West  in  keeping 
the  Easter  festival.  Victor  accordingly  commanded 
Christians  everywhere,  on  pain  of  excommunication, 
to  keep  the  feast  on  the  same  Sunday,  and  not  the 
exact  day  of  the  fourteenth  of  Nisan.  Polycrates — 
at  that  time  the  successor  of  S.  John  in  Ephesus — 
went  up  to  Rome  to  defend  the  ancient  privi- 
leges of  the  churches  of- Asia  Minor,  and  to  ask  that 
their  liberties,  if  not  their  prejudices,  should  be  con- 
sidered in  the  matter.  The  spirit  of  Victor  was  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Anicetus,  and  he  refused  to  yield 
any  longer  in  the  point  at  issue.  When  Irenaeus, 
who  was  himself  from  Asia  Minor,  and  had  succeeded 
Pothinus  in  Gaul,  heard  of  the  action  of  Victor  of 
Rome,  he  wrote  to  him  and  begged  of  him  not  to 
divide  the  Church  for  such  a  trifling  question  as 
the  day  for  celebrating  the  Easter  festival.  Victor 
yielded,  and  the  threatened  excommunication  was 
suspended.  It  is  not,  then,  the  case  that  the  Easter 
festival  of  the  Christian  Church  is  a  compound  of 
Judaism  and  Paganism.  The  reverse  of  this,  as  the 
facts  of  the  case  prove,  is  true. 

But  the  controversy  has  an  interest  for  us  over  and 
above  its  ritualistic  value.  It  confirms  the  princi- 
ple which  the  Anglican  Church  has  always  main- 
tained in  its  controversy  with  Rome.  We  take  our 
stand  to-day  on  precisely  the  same  ground  which 
Polycarp  and  Polycrates  did,  as  to  the  right  of  a 
national  church  to  order  its  own  internal  affairs 
without  any  breach  of  unity.     As  to  the  great  out- 


56  SYRIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE 

lying  body  of  Protestantism,  we  have  no  wish  to  re- 
vive past  controversies;  or  to  deal  with  the  ques- 
tions at  issue  in  any  other  spirit  than  that  of  love 
and  Christian  charity.  Our  prayer  is  that  God,  in 
His  own  good  time,  will  reunite  again  divided  Chris- 
tendom in  one  fold,  under  one  Shepherd.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  mere  ecclesiastical  arrangement,  much 
less  of  worldly  power ;  it  is  a  practical  question  to 
which  history  and  experience  bear  witness.  In 
unity  there  is  strength ;  in  division  and  strife,  ruin 
and  loss.  We  only  repeat  the  words  of  the  Master 
when  we  affirm  that  "  if  a  house  be  divided  against 
itself  that  house  cannot  stand."  If  it  be  true  that, 
if  Satan  be  divided  against  Satan,  his  kingdom  can- 
not stand,  it  is  likewise  true  that  God  cannot  be  di- 
vided against  Himself.  He  is  a  lover  of  unity,  and 
not  the  author  of  confusion.  Why  do  we  want  or- 
ganic unity  ?  We  want  it  for  the  reason  that  it  is 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  faith,  even  as 
it  is  for  the  development  and  growth  of  the  life  of 
the  Church.  Without  it  the  Church  has  no  power 
to  contend  with  the  world,  or  to  withstand  the  dis- 
integrating forces  of  self-will  and  heretical  tendencies 
among  her  own  children.  The  remark  of  Guizot  re- 
garding the  fifth  century  is  also  true  when  applied 
to  the  nineteenth  century.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
organism  of  the  Christian  Church,  Guizot  tells  us, 
the  world  must  have  perished  and  the  social  fabric 
suffered  utter  disintegration  when  the  Roman  Em- 
pire was  crushed  under  the  feet  of  the  barbarians. 


SCHOOL    OF  ANTIOCH.  S7 

Had  Christianity  then  been  a  thing  of  mere  indi- 
vidual feeling,  and  not,  as  it  was,  a  great  social 
power  knit  together  by -joints  and  bands,  it  never 
could  have  risen  above  the  wreck  of  the  nations  of 
the  earth  when  the  Goths  took  possession  of  the 
empire.  "  Humanly  speaking,"  Guizot  says,  "  it  was 
the  Christian  Church  that  saved  Christianity ;  .  . 
it  was  the  Christian  Church,  with  its  institutions,  its 
magistrates,  its  authority ;  the  Christian  Church 
which  struggled  so  vigorously  to  prevent  the  interior 
dissolution  of  the  empire,  which  struggled  against 
barbarism,  and,  in  fact,  overcame  the  barbarian ;  it 
was  the  Church  .  .  .  which  became  the  great 
connecting  link — the  principle  of  civilization  be- 
tween the  Roman  and  the  barbarian  world."  The 
verdict  of  history  we  claim  is,  that  there  must  be 
in  the  world  some  abiding  power,  some  organic 
agency  above  that  of  mere  individualism,  or  else  so- 
ciety will  go  to  ruin.  Represent  it  by  what  formula 
you  may,  the  idea  of  moral  unity  for  which  Ignatius 
in  his  day  contended,  and  the  Church  of  England 
fought  in  her  struggle  with  non-conformity,  is  essen- 
tial to  the  very  idea  of  the  Church,  and  is  the  only 
spiritual  force  which  can  knit  together  into  one  the 
divided  members  of  Christendom. 


Gbe  ftortb  Hfrican  Cburcb  anfc  its 
Geacbers. 


LECTURE   III. 

REV.    J.    F.    GARRISON,    D.D., 
Professor  of  Liturgies  in  the  Divinity  School,  Philadelphia. 

THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH  AND 
ITS   TEACHERS. 

The  subject  of  this  lecture  is  The  North  African 
Church  and  its  Teachers,  with  special  reference  to 
"  a  basis  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom." 

From  the  changes  that  have  occurred  in  the  scenes 
and  nationalities  of  history,  it  may  seem  strange  to 
many  of  the  present  day  to  hear  that  North  Africa 
had  ever  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  progress  of 
the  Church,  or  had  been  profoundly  related  to  the 
development  of  our  modern  civilization.  For  cen- 
turies past  Morocco,  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  the 
states  contiguous  to  them  on  the  Northern  African 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  have  been  known 
to  Europe  and  America  only  by  the  worthlessness 
and  viciousness  of  a  marauding,  piratical  population; 
and  the  conquest  and  annexation  of  several  of  these 
countries  as  provinces  by  France  and  Italy  has  been 
regarded  as  equally  a  benefit  to  the  people  whom 
they  have  conquered,  and  a  relief  to  the  commerce 


62  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

of  the  Mediterranean  from  their  constant  annoyance 
and  pillage. 

But  it  was  far  otherwise  in  the  days  of  the  later 
Roman  Republic,  and  even  (though  with  widely  dif- 
ferent conditions)  under  the  Empire  for  four  hundred 
years  and  more  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era. 

In  its  prime  North  Africa  was  the  seat  of  Car- 
thage, the  home  of  the  mightiest  enemy  that  the 
Republic  of  Rome  ever  knew,  and  although  sub- 
dued and  destroyed  as  an  independent  power  and  a 
rival,  it  had  revived  from  its  ashes  and  was  one  of 
the  most  populous  and  important  provinces  of  the 
later  Republic  and  the  Empire.  And  Carthage,  now 
transformed  in  all  respects  into  a  Roman  city,  was 
second  throughout  the  whole  West  only  to  Rome 
itself  in  elegance,  culture,  population,  and  display. 

The  area  of  North  Africa  as  a  proconsular  juris- 
diction was  somewhat  over  two  thousand  miles  in 
length,  with  an  average  breadth  of  about  three  hun- 
dred miles  between  the  sea  and  the  desert.  From 
its  location  and  climate,  this  province  had  become 
one  of  the  chief  granaries  whence  Rome  and  Italy 
drew  their  supplies  of  food,  and  as  a  consequence, 
its  territory  was  occupied  by  a  wealthy  and  pros- 
perous people.  It  was  dotted  along  all  its  sea-coast 
with  large  and  elegant  cities,  and  towns  of  no  mean 
pretensions  abounded  in  every  part  of  the  province. 

Christianity  must  have  been  introduced  into 
North  Africa  very  early,  and  with  great  success ;  for 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  63 

when  it  first  comes  to  the  notice  of  history,  its  ad- 
herents were  already  exceedingly  numerous,  and 
everywhere,  throughout  the  province,  they  had  long 
been  organized  into  dioceses  and  local  parishes,  and 
constituted  a  compact  and  efficient  power  in  every 
important  city  and  town. 

The  period  at  which  the  North  African  Church 
thus  first  appears  in  history,  was  about  the  year  200, 
or  a  little  before ;  and  it  continued  to  play  a  most 
distinguished  part  in  the  thought  and  life  of  the 
Church,  until  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century, 
when,  with  all  of  the  Western  Empire,  it  was  buried 
and  for  a  while  almost  forgotten  under  the  suc- 
cessive waves  of  the  Barbarians.  This  period  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  during  which  the  North 
African  Church  is  prominent,  was  marked  and 
spanned  by  the  lives  of  three  of  the  most  renowned 
teachers  of  the  Western  Church.  These  three  men 
were  Tertullian,  with  whom  the  period  begins ;  Cy- 
prian, who  marks  about  its  middle ;  and  Augustine, 
with  whom  it  comes  to  its  close. 

The  North  African  Church,  at  the  time  of  its 
greatest  prosperity,  numbered  some  four  hundred 
and  sixty  dioceses  in  union  with  the  Catholic 
Church  and  under  its  authority  ;  while  there  was 
an  almost  equal  number  of  bishops  who  ruled  over 
the  congregations  of  an  extensive  and  disastrous 
schism,  which  for  a  long  period  prevailed  in  North 
Africa,  and  is  known  in  ecclesiastical  history  as 
Donatism. 


64  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

This  has  seemed  to  many  so  extravagantly  large 
a  number  as  to  be  almost  incredible.  But  so  popu- 
lous and  rich  was  the  country  in  these  centuries, 
that  Bingham  asserts  there  could  have  been  an 
average  of  seventy  or  eighty  large  towns  and  vil- 
lages to  each  diocese  of  the  Catholic  Bishops,  and 
that  the  geographical  area  of  the  several  jurisdic- 
tions would,  on  the  same  average,  be  about  one-half 
that  of  the  ordinary  French  diocese  of  to-day. 

The  first  of  the  three  great  teachers  by  whom 
the  African  Church  was  made  illustrious  was,  as 
already  said,  Tertullian  ;  and  it  is  with  his  writ- 
ings, his  public  life,  and  his  surroundings,  from  A.D. 
192  to  220  or  225,  that  we  must  begin.  Septimius 
Florens  Tertullianus  was  born  in  Carthage  about 
A.D.  150  or  160.  His  family  were  pagans,  his  father 
an  officer  in  the  Imperial  army,  evidently  a  man  of 
means,  able  and  willing  to  give  his  son  the  best 
education  that  the  times  could  afford  him.  The 
lad  was  familiar  with  the  poetry,  and  learned  in 
the  philosophy  and  history  of  the  great  Greek  mas- 
ters, and  himself  both  talked  and  wrote  the  Greek. 
He  seems  to  have  been  trained  especially  for  the 
profession  of  a  lawyer,  and  became  famous  in  his 
early  manhood  for  his  knowledge  of  the  Roman 
Law  and  his  ability  as  an  advocate. 

As  he  was  not  converted  until  near  middle  life 
(thirty-five  or  forty)  and  his  family  were  heathens, 
he  was  fully  acquainted  with  the  scenes  and  influ- 
ences of  the  theatre  and  the  arena,  and  shared  more 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  6$ 

or  less  the  dissipation  and  profligacy  which  then 
marked  so  much  of  the  social  life  of  the  heathen. 
He  was  thus  early  familiar,  by  his  own  experience, 
with  the  very  evils  and  sins  of  which  in  his  matur- 
er  life  he  was  to  be  so  stern  a  censor ;  he  was  also 
furnished,  by  the  wide  range  of  his  studies  and  his 
own  elaborate  and  careful  mental  training,  with  the 
weapons  of  which  he  made  so  powerful  a  use  in  his 
after-years  of  Christian  teaching  and  controversy. 

Doubtless  also,  being  a  North  African,  he  inher- 
ited by  birth,  like  many  other  of  the  Carthaginian 
families,  traits  derived  from  the  fierce,  fiery  peoples 
who  were  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Carthage.  And 
after  his  conversion  he  devoted  himself  to  the  de- 
fence of  Christianity,  as  he  understood  it,  in  pre- 
cisely the  spirit  with  which  Hamilcar  swore  his  son 
Hannibal,  upon  the  altar  of  the  gods,  to  an  eternal 
and  implacable  hostility  and  warfare  with  Rome. 

But  Tertullian  was  not  only  the  first  of  the  illus- 
trious leaders  of  the  North  African  Church,  he  was 
also,  what  is  vastly  more  important,  the  first  of  the 
great  Latin  writers  and  teachers  of  the  Church  of 
the  West. 

Christianity,  the  Church,  both  had  their  origin 
and  found  their  early  home  in  the  East.  They  be- 
longed to  Asia,  to  Palestine,  and  Syria,  not  to  Eu- 
rope. The  language  too,  the  Greek,  in  which  their 
sacred  records  were  written,  although  in  name  Euro- 
pean, had  virtually  become,  since  the  conquest  of 
Alexander,  an  Oriental  language  ;  and  in  the  time 
5 


66  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

of  the  Apostles  was,  as  it  continued  for  a  long  period 
after,  the  common  medium  of  literary  intercourse 
for  all  Asia  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean ;  and  was  used  by  all  the  cultivated  thinkers  ot 
Alexandria  and  Egypt.  It  was  this  prominent  posi- 
tion of  the  Greek  in  this  age  which  caused  all  the 
authoritative  scriptures  of  the  Church  to  be  written 
in  that  language;  and  it  seems  also  to  have  led  cer- 
tain of  the  portions  of  the  Church,  where  the  Greek 
was  not  thus  familiar  to  the  people,  to  allow  it  for  a 
time  to  restrain  them  from  the  use  of  their  own 
tongue  in  their  writings  or  discussions  on  matters 
relating  to  Christianity. 

The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  was  extended  to 
Rome  and  other  parts  of  the  West  before  the  death 
of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul.  But  while  the  Church 
was  thus  extended  very  early  into  the  West,  and 
grew  very  rapidly  in  all  the  western  provinces  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  which  we  now  know  as  England, 
France,  Spain,  Italy,  and  North  Africa,  it  is  a  fact  to 
be  noted  as  a  consequence  of  the  influences  already 
mentioned,  that  from  the  foundation  of  the  Church 
to  the  end  of  the  third  century,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, all  the  great  works  on  Theology  as  well  as  the 
universal  creeds  of  the  Church  had  been  produced 
in  the  East — in  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  or  Alexandria — 
and  were  all  written  in  Greek. 

During  all  this  long  period,  when  the  Church  was 
discussing  with  intense  zeal  the  new  conceptions 
about  God  and   man  which  the  revelations  of  the 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  6 J 

Gospel  had  awakened  in  men,  when  the  Christian 
world  was  struggling  with  eager  desire  to  compre- 
hend the  most  fully  and  express  the  most  clearly, 
the  great  doctrines  which  were  to  constitute  its 
future  Theology  and  the  forms  of  the  creeds  in 
which  these  should  be  embodied  for  all  after-ages, 
during  all  this  long  and  vitally  important  period  of 
three  hundred  years,  in  which  the  foundations  of 
Christian  philosophy  and  Christian  theology  were 
being  laid  you  may  question  the  whole  line  of  the 
Bishops  of  Rome  and  not  find  one  really  able  or 
noteworthy  contribution  to  the  vast  work  which 
was  being  done  by  the  Church  in  the  East  and  in 
the  Greek  language.  Nor  had  the  rest  of  the 
Church  in  Western  Europe  been  greatly  more  active 
in  this  work  of  the  early  ages  of  Christianity  than  the 
Bishops  and  Clergy  of  Rome.  Irenaeus  and  Hippo- 
lytus  had  both  written  notable  works,  and  on  mat- 
ters of  considerable  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  and  they  both  lived  in  the  West ;  but  not- 
withstanding this,  the  language  of  all  their  known 
writings  was  Greek,  and  wellnigh  all  that  makes 
these  of  real  value  came  to  them  from  their  early 
and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  thoughts  and 
modes  of  expression,  as  well  as  the  language  and 
church  literature,  of  the  East. 

The  only  real  exceptions  to  this,  not  very  credita- 
ble, lack  in  the  Western  Church,  were  in  North 
Africa.  It  is  to  Tertullian  (about  A.D.  200)  we 
must  give  the  high  place  of  being  first  in  the  series 


68  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

of  great  teachers  of  Christianity  who  afterward  wrote 
in  Latin.  And,  although  there  was  no  adequate 
treatment  of  theology  as  a  whole  in  the  West  until 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  in  the  writings  of 
Augustine,  yet  in  Tertullian  we  have  the  begin- 
ning of  a  true  Western  theology,  presented  too,  for 
the  first  time,  in  forms  of  thought  familiar  to  the 
West,  and  in  a  language  known  to  that  portion  of 
the  Church. 

The  condition  of  the  heathen  world  in  Tertullian  s 
age,  and  the  necessities  of  the  Western  or  Latin- 
speaking  Church,  both  called  imperatively  for  this 
phase  of  Christian  teaching,  and  his  character  and 
training,  as  we  have  already  traced  them,  were  such 
as  eminently  fitted  him  to  begin  the  work. 

The  life-force  of  the  old  civilizations  East  and 
West,  Gaul,  Rome,  and  Africa,  as  well  as  Greece, 
Syria,  and  Egypt,  was  utterly  exhausted ;  the  old 
religious  faiths  were  dead ;  their  outer  forms  had 
continued  only  as  state  ceremonials  to  please  the 
mob,  or  from  a  grovelling  superstition  which  feared 
some  unknown  evil  if  it  should  abandon  them  ;  the 
old  systems  of  philosophy  were  powerless  for  any 
other  use  than  mere  word  play  or  a  pretence  of  eru- 
dition ;  the  only  school  in  the  pagan  world  that 
then  or  afterward  made  any  impression  on  the 
minds  of  men  was  that  known  as  the  Alexandrian 
or  new  Platonic  philosophy.  No  greater  name 
had  appeared  among  the  Greek  thinkers,  since 
the  days  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  than  its   brilliant 


AND   ITS   TEACHERS.  69 

master  Plotinus.  The  system  he  taught  in  Rome 
soon  after  the  death  of  Tertullian — and  as  if  to  pre- 
sent the  best  that  was  possible  in  Heathen  thought 
in  rivalry  with  the  beginning  of  the  new  life  that 
had  come  from  the  Gospel — was  of  rare  beauty, 
sublimity,  and  excellence.  Yet  so  wholly  unable 
were  the  old  lines  of  thought  to  retain  their  power 
over  the  mind  of  the  world,  that  its  momentary 
flash  of  splendor  was  only  that  of  a  sun  illumining 
the  clouds  behind  which  it  was  soon  to  sink  in  dark- 
ness and  forever. 

With  the  breaking  up  of  the  old  religions  and  old 
philosophies  had  come  also  the  loss  of  all  the  ac- 
customed restraints  of  the  moral  and  social  customs 
which  belonged  to  them.  The  conquest  of  all  na- 
tions had  made  Rome  and  her  near  provinces  the 
centre  of  the  conquered  world.  She  brought  their 
innumerable  gods  to  the  imperial  city  and  set  them 
in  the  Pantheon.  She  dragged  her  captives  there  as 
slaves,  and  spread  them  broadcast  by  the  millions 
over  Italy  and  Africa.  Degraded  by  their  slavery 
and  desperate  in  their  wretchedness,  these  misera- 
bles  in  every  sense  sought  only  to  curry  favor  with 
their  masters  by  pandering  to  every  vice  and  min- 
gling into  one  horrid  slough  the  infamies,  the 
crimes,  the  debaucheries  of  every  people. 

The  lords  of  the  far  provinces,  or  Roman  officials 
(corrupted  by  residing  there),  flocked  also  around 
the  capital,  each  rivalling  the  other  in  extravagance 
of  display  and  in  unnamable,  almost    unthinkable 


70  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

pollution  of  themselves  and  all  who  came  in  con- 
tact with  their  vileness. 

Gibbon  says  (111,112):  "  The  capital  attracted  all 
the  vices  of  the  universe.  The  intemperance  of  the 
Goths,  the  cunning  of  the  Greeks,  the  savage  ob- 
stinacy of  the  Egyptians  and  Jews,  the  servile  tern* 
per  of  the  Asiatics,  the  effeminate  prostitution  of 
the  Syrians,"  all  were  commingled  in  this  various 
multitude.  It  was  an  age,  too,  of  luxury  and  ex- 
travagance of  living  which  we,  with  all  our  concep- 
tions of  millionaires  and  expenditure,  can  hardly  re- 
produce even  in  imagination.  It  was  a  time  also  of 
high  art,  at  least  if  art  consist,  as  some  appear  to 
think,  in  painting  all  that  can  inflame  the  passions, 
and  suggest  evil  to  the  mind,  instead  of  that  which 
seeks  to  give  expression  to  the  true,  and  pure,  and 
noble  as  essential  elements  of  beauty.  Art  was 
seen  everywhere ;  the  walls  were  alive  with  pictures 
— outside  as  well  as  in — the  floor  as  often  as  the 
ceiling. 

So  also  literature  (such  as  it  was)  abounded ;  per- 
haps books  never  were  so  numerous  or  so  universally 
read  in  any  age  or  part  of  the  world,  except  in  the 
last  century  or  two,  as  in  the  period  of  which  we 
speak.  Yet,  with  all  these  elements  of  culture, 
these  agencies  of  "  sweetness  and  light "  which  so 
many  now  believe  to  be  the  needed  new  gospel  for 
the  race,  literature,  art,  the  cosmopolite  mingling 
of  all  nations,  and  all  faiths  and  no  faith  in  any,  so 
far  were  they  from  humanizing  and  beautifying  so- 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  *Jl 

ciety  and  life,  that  earth  never  saw  such  inhumanity 
and  brutalizing  cruelty  as  marked  these  centuries 
in  the  great  cities  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  cer- 
tain of  its  provinces;  cruelty  too,  without  reason, 
without  even  the  excuse  of  fanaticism  or  hate ; 
cruelty  solely,  simply  because  all  moral  and  religious 
bonds  once  cast  aside,  the  brute  in  his  ravening, 
starved  moods,  becomes  the  man. 

The  Roman  lady  had  her  slave  maid  (often  a  cap- 
tive reared  in  her  far  off  home  as  delicately  as  her- 
self) stand  as  she  made  her  toilet  with  bared  shoul- 
ders, that  the  thongs  of  the  angry  mistress,  tipped 
with  iron,  might  cut  more  surely  into  the  blood  for 
every  slight  mistake.  Men  racked  their  serfs  with 
pitiless  vengeance  on  any  occasion,  or  even  without 
occasion,  whenever  the  passion  of  a  cruel  master  in- 
flamed him  to  brutality,  or  the  fears  of  a  timid  ty- 
rant impelled  him  to  a  course  of  terrorism.  Men 
and  women,  ten,  fifty,  or  eighty  thousand  of  them, 
would  sit  in  the  amphitheatre  day  after  day,  week 
after  week,  to  gaze  on  the  ferocious  combats  of  wild 
beasts  one  with  another ;  or,  when  satiated  with  what 
had  now  become  the  dull  monotony  of  a  death- 
fight  between  tigers,  they  desired  a  keener  stimulus 
would  call  for  men  to  fight  each  other — men  not 
allowed  clothing,  that  the  death-wounds  might  be 
more  easily  given — who  fought,  each  murdering  and 
murdered  until  there  were  none  left  who  could  mur- 
der or  be  murdered.  Nor  was  this  all.  In  the 
time  of  Tertullian  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for 


72  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

the  wild  cry  of  the  mob  to  call  out  "  The  Christians 
to  the  lions  !  The  Christians  to  the  lions  ! " — and  in 
this  very  city  of  Carthage,  in  the  very  amphitheatre 
where  Tertullian  had  sat  (as  he  shudderingly  tells 
us)  in  his  early  years,  two  delicate  young  mothers, 
Perpetua  and  Felicitas,  scarce  out  of  their  teens, 
were  dragged  into  the  arena  before  the  bloodthirsty 
throng  and  tossed  on  the  horns  of  mad  wild  cattle, 
until  the  soldiers,  in  pure  mercy,  ended  their  appal- 
ling agonies  with  the  sword  ;  and  perhaps  the  most 
terrible  sentence  in  the  whole  frightful  narrative, 
written,  too,  in  all  probability  by  Tertullian  himself, 
is  "  the  populace  called  for  them  (when  about  to  re- 
ceive their  death-stroke)  to  come  into  the  middle  of 
the  arena,  that,  as  the  sword  penetrated  their  body, 
they  (the  multitude)  might  make  their  eyes  partners 
in  the  murder." 

It  was  into  the  old  world  thus  debauched,  soul- 
less, and  degraded,  with  all  its  refinement  and  cult- 
ure, thus  effeminate,  cowardly,  and  cruel,  notwith- 
standing its  high  art  and  universal  literature,  that 
Tertullian  was  born.  And  it  was  from  this  (and  with 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  its  mingled  splendor  and 
vileness)  that,  about  his  fortieth  year,  he  was  con- 
verted to  Christianity  and  baptized  into  the  Church. 

We  know  not  whether  this  great  revolution  in  his 
life  was  made  at  Carthage  or  Rome,  but  we  know, 
from  what  has  already  been  shown  of  him,  that  he 
did  nothing  by  halves.  When  he  had  once  seized 
the  divine  significance  and  worth  of  Christianity,  he 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  73 

gave  himself  to  it  with  all  his  intense  nature  and  all 
his  large  acquirements ;  and  from  the  beginning  it 
so  possessed  his  entire  being  that  he  saw  nothing  in 
the  whole  world  worth  a  thought,  nothing  worth  hav- 
ing or  worth  living  for,  but  the  Gospel.  And  even 
while  yet  a  layman  he  wrote  (both  for  the  heathen 
in  defence  of  Christianity  and  on  special  matters  of 
Christian  interest)  several  of  the  most  valuable  of 
his  numerous  writings.  One  of  those,  known  as 
"  The  Apology,"  presents  with  wonderful  power  the 
contrast  between  the  Christian  and  pagan  life  and 
principles  ;  in  this  occurs  the  famous  passage  so  often 
misquoted  as  "  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed 
of  the  Church."  He  says  to  the  rulers  of  Rome,  "  Go 
on,  zealous  governors,  sacrifice  the  Christians  at  the 
will  of  the  people,  kill  us,  torture  us,  condemn  us, 
grind  us  to  dust,  your  cruelty  will  not  avail  you  ;  the 
oftener  we  are  mown  down  by  you,  the  more  in 
number  we  grow  ;  the  Blood  of  Christians  is  seed." 

It  was  inevitable,  also,  that  the  same  temperament 
would  demand  from  his  fellow-Christians  the  most 
uncompromising  and  rigid  following  of  what  he 
thought  to  be  the  consistent  life  of  the  Christian. 

Unhappily,  notwithstanding  the  dangers  by  which 
the  Christians  were  constantly  surrounded,  many  who 
were  members  of  the  Church  winked  at,  or  even 
shared  in,  acts  which  were  unworthy  of  their  profes- 
sion, and  others  (while  not  doing  anything  positively 
evil)  were  treading  in  paths  which  he  felt  would 
lead  to  sin.     Not  only  was  he  sorely  grieved  at  these 


74  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

inconsistencies,  but  at  the  same  time  a  portion  of 
the  clergy  assumed  airs  of  pretension  and  superior- 
ity, and  by  their  insolence  or  display  aroused  his 
personal  indignation.  In  the  one  case  as  well  as  the 
other,  we  may  readily  believe  that  neither  his 
tongue  nor  his  pen  was  idle  in  reproving  conduct 
which  he  thought  to  be  so  opposed  to  the  lofty  ideal 
which  the  Christian  life  required. 

While  in  this  condition  of  mind  he  came  in  con- 
tact with  a  class  of  teachers  recently  come  from 
Asia,  known  in  Church  history  as  Montanists,  from 
the  name  of  their  chief — Montanus.  The  tenets  of 
this  system,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  seemed  to  meet 
precisely  the  necessities  of  the  position  he  occupied. 
Without  going  into  the  details  of  these,  it  is  suffi- 
cient for  our  purposes  to  know  that,  as  he  under- 
stood or  modified  them,  they  maintained  that  the 
Church  needed  (after  Christ)  a  special  dispensation 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  essential  to  its  continuance 
and  advance ;  that  certain  persons  (Montanus,  their 
chief)  were  possessed  of  such  light ;  that  it  was  by 
this  Light  the  individual  Christian  must  be  con- 
stantly led  in  the  directing  of  his  own  Christian  life 
and  conduct ;  and  that  such  persons  must  be  regarded 
as  actual  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  spake  by 
them  as  his  agents  in  the  guidance  of  the  Church. 
They  held  that  the  articles  of  essential  faith  had  been 
established  once  for  all,  hence  these  could  not  be 
changed.  But  for  the  present  needs  of  the  Church 
and  of  its  members,  such  personal  utterances  of  the 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  75 

Divine  Spirit  were  essentially  necessary.  How  much 
of  the  real  Montanism  Tertullian  accepted  is  not 
known,  but  he  was  supremely  convinced  of  its  cen- 
tral idea,  which  in  its  essence  was  very  much  the 
same  as  the  Quakerism  of  George  Fox — the  vital  ne- 
cessity of  conscious  personal  relations  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  above  any  mere  external  authority  or  ordi- 
nary Church  legislation,  for  the  correct  understand- 
ing and  direction  of  the  Christian  individual  or  the 
Church  as  a  whole. 

Neither  the  opinions  of  Tertullian  on  such  a  mat- 
ter, nor  his  mode  of  presenting  them  were,  as  we  may 
well  believe,  such  as  would  be  acceptable  to  the  au- 
thorities of  the  Church,  and  (whether  by  his  own  act 
or  that  of  the  authorities  is  not  important)  he  left 
the  communion  of  the  Church,  though  he  still  con- 
tinued the  vigorous  use  of  his  pen  and  voice  upon 
whatever  question  of  Christian  interest  he  felt  him- 
self called  to  speak.  Neither  is  it  certain  whether 
he  remained  apart  from  the  Catholics  or  returned  to 
their  communion  late  in  life,  as  he  soon  disappears 
from  the  view  of  history,  and  we  know  really  noth- 
ing of  his  later  years. 

But  whichever  was  the  case,  it  is  quite  certain  that 
the  Church  as  a  wholehas  always  ranked  him  among 
her  most  distinguished  "  Fathers ; "  and  notwithstand- 
ing his  relations  with  the  Montanist  Schism,  he  has 
occupied  a  higher  place  and  exercised  a  far  wider 
influence  as  one  of  the  great  Leaders  of  Christian 
thought  than  most  of  those  who  have  been  officially 


76  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN   CHURCH 

recognized  as  saints  and  enrolled  as  Doctors  of  the 
Church. 

Turning  now  from  the  character  and  work  of  Ter- 
tullian,  as  a  man  and  a  Presbyter  dealing  with  the 
personal  life  of  the  Christian,  what  do  his  writings 
afford  directly  or  incidentally  as  "  a  basis  for  the  re- 
union of  Christendom  ?" 

I  must  assume  here,  what  has  been  fully  treated 
in  the  preceding  Lectures,  that  nothing  should  be 
deemed  essential  in  a  basis  for  Christian  Union — at 
least  intercommunion — that  was  not  accepted  and 
acted  upon  by  the  Church  Catholic  as  fundamental 
in  the  belief  or  organization  of  the  early  centuries  ; 
and  conversely,  that  whatever  of  either  faith  or  order 
was  in  these  same  centuries  universally  recognized 
and  enforced  as  fundamental,  cannot  safely  be  dis- 
regarded in  any  basis  for  a  reunion  of  Christendom 
in  our  day. 

On  the  great  issues  of  the  vital  truths  of  the 
Creed,  the  Divineness  and  Authority  of  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, the  obligations  and  benefits  of  the  two  Sacra- 
ments, there  was  no  question  as  to  their  Catholic 
authority  then  and,  happily,  none  in  their  acceptance 
by  wellnigh  all  societies  which  are  called  churches 
at  the  present  time. 

But  on  one  of  the  matters  which  have  been 
largely  the  subject  of  controversy,  much  light 
emerges  in  connection  with  his  discussions  of  the 
various  heresies  which  were  then  disturbing  the 
peace  of  the  Church,  this  is   the   question   of  the 


AND   ITS    TEACHERS.  77 

"  Historic  Episcopate."  Certain  heretical  teachers 
had  set  up  a  wholly  new  idea  of  Christ,  one  differing 
widely  from  that  held  by  the  Church  ;  they  claimed 
that  their  conception  was  the  true  representation  of 
the  actual  Christ,  and  was  to  be  accepted  instead  of 
that  which  the  Church  maintained.  Among  other 
grounds  on  which  they  rested  their  new  theories 
was  the  authority  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  one  of 
their  most  effective  modes  of  argument  was  the 
quotation  of  certain  passages  from  the  Bible,  mainly 
the  New  Testament ;  these  they  interpreted  by 
rules  of  their  own  making,  and  then  applied  them 
to  the  support  of  the  opinions  they  sought  to  pro- 
mulgate. 

Tertullian  entered  very  early,  and  with  great 
vigor,  into  the  contest  with  these  Heretics — Gnos- 
tics, as  they  were  called — but  his  line  of  argument 
was  wholly  different  from  theirs;  he  believed  in  Holy 
Scripture  as  thoroughly  as  they,  and  quoted  it  as 
confidently ;  but,  since  their  method  left  each  party 
to  fix  its  own  sense  on  every  passage  and  on  its 
meaning  as  a  whole,  there  was  no  end  to  the  discus- 
sion ;  it  was  a  mere  word-battling  as  to  whose  inter- 
pretation was  the  better;  there  could  be  no  positive 
ground  for  decision  either  way;  hence  Tertullian 
brings  in  another  witness,  but  one  whose  testimony 
could  be  very  easily  overthrown  if  open  to  denial, 
yet  very  decisive  if  in  itself  undeniable.  It  is  virtu- 
ally :  "  Your  doctrine  is  not  scriptural,  is  not  from 
or  of  the   Apostles  who  wrote  the  Scriptures,   be- 


78  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

cause  in  every  great  city,  in  every  part  of  the  Em- 
pire, there  are  at  this  time  Bishops  who  can,  each 
one  of  them  (from  the  records,  etc.,  of  his  Diocese), 
trace  back  his  predecessors  to  the  time  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and  the  first  of  these  in  every  line  received  his 
authority  and  his  doctrine  from  the  Apostles  or 
their  companions ;  now,  all  these  men,  thus  receiv- 
ing and  handing  down  the  Apostolic  Truth  {i.e., 
Bible  Teaching),  agree  in  the  same  great  essentials 
of  Doctrine,  and  no  one  of  them  ever,  until  your 
heresy,  heard  of  your  opinions  or  beliefs.  Hence,  as 
they  have  continued  in  unbroken  succession  from 
the  beginning,  to  teach  and  hand  down  the  truths 
they  learned  from  the  Apostles  as  Well  as  the  Scrip- 
tures written  and  authorized  by  the  Apostles,  and 
are  now  all  in  agreement  as  to  the  great  Doctrines 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Church,  their  teaching  must  be 
regarded  as  the  true  Doctrine  of  the  Apostles  and 
the  Holy  Word." 

The  reply  to  this  (if  false)  would  have  been  very 
orjvious,  very  easily  applied,  thoroughly  crushing. 
All  that  would  be  needed  was  to  assert,  on  evidence 
that  could  not  have  been  difficult  to  find,  "  your 
statement  is  not  true,  your  line  of  Bishops  in  this 
city  began  only  fifty  years  ago,  that  in  Jerusalem 
commenced  with  a  man  who  never  saw  an  Apostle ; 
or,  if  you  can  trace  something  back  one  hundred 
years,  it  had  no  authority,  and  here  and  there  are 
scores  of  cities  with  many  churches,  and  they  have 
not,  and    never   had,  any  such  succession  as  your 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  79 

Bishops."  The  assertion  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
series  of  lines,  their  succession,  their  authority,  was 
open  to  disproval  by  a  cloud  of  witnesses  over  all 
the  Church. 

And  yet,  with  all  the  ability,  the  zeal,  the  acute- 
ness  of  the  Heretics,  we  find  no  hint  of  any  such  en- 
deavor ;  there  is  abundance  of  keen,  subtle,  often 
powerful,  reasoning,  but  nowhere  any  effort  to  deny 
this  potent  evidence  from  history  ;  the  facts  then,  as 
facts,  may  fairly  be  considered  as  beyond  any  seri- 
ous contradiction.  But  if  accepted  as  facts,  they 
draw  with  them  at  least  one  conclusion,  i.e.,  that  in 
the  second  century  it  was  universally  admitted,  by 
Heretic  and  Orthodox  alike,  that  Bishops  each  de- 
scended in  a  line  beginning  from  the  Apostles,  ap- 
pointed and  authorized  directly  or  mediately  by 
them,  were  an  integral  element  of  the  organization 
of  the  Christian  Church  as  left  by  the  Apostles,  and 
hence  must  be  retained  as  fundamental  in  any  pro- 
posal looking  to  the  reunion  of  Christendom  on  an 
historical  and  apostolic  basis. 

There  is  another  point  (in  quite  an  opposite  direc- 
tion) on  which  the  testimony  of  Tertullian  comes 
with  effective  weight ;  this  is,  that  the  Church  in  the 
third  century  did  not  hold  either  the  infallibility  or 
supreme  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  He  was, 
from  the  very  position  of  his  city,  the  chief  Bishop 
of  the  West;  the  general  belief  that  S.  Peter  and 
S.  Paul  were  both  martyred  at  Rome,  had  invested 
its  church  and  head  with  high  veneration,  the  sue- 


80  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

cession  of  its  Bishops,  although  none  of  them  had  as 
yet  made  any  contributions  to  the  theology  of  the 
Church,  had  nevertheless  been  mostly  composed  of 
shrewd,  wise,  able  men,  and  they  had  done  a  mighty 
work  in  organizing  and  unifying  the  Western  Church. 
For  all  these  reasons,  the  Roman  Bishop  had  been 
regarded  from  an  early  date  as  the  Patriarch  of  the 
West,  and  also  as  being  in  an  especial  sense  the  suc- 
cessor there  of  S.  Peter.  On  the  other  hand,  a  See 
recognized  as  entitled  to  so  distinguished  a  position, 
would  be  under  constant  temptation  to  add  to  its 
distinction  and  importance,  by  ever-increasing  claims 
of  superiority,  and,  whenever  it  seemed  possible,  to 
introduce  and  enforce  its  own  authority  and  jurisdic- 
tion in  other  portions  of  the  Church.  Such  was  the 
course  of  Rome,  but  the  North  African  Church 
never,  in  any  period  of  its  existence  as  a  separate 
church,  admitted  the  exercise  of  any  such  authority 
or  rule ;  on  the  contrary,  its  leaders  were  always 
prompt  (when  they  thought  the  occasion  called 
for  it)  to  repudiate  the  assumption  of  the  Roman 
Bishop,  to  charge  and  to  reprove  his  errors  whether 
of  belief  or  conduct,  to  treat  him  indeed  as  a  distin- 
guished fellow-Bishop,  whom  they  were  ready  to 
honor  because  of  his  high  station,  but  (as  S.  Paul 
said  to  the  followers  of  Peter  in  Galatia)  "  to  whom 
they  gave  place  by  subjection — no,  not  for  an  hour  " 
(Gal.  2,  5). 

In  a  certain  matter  on  which  Tertullian  felt  very 
deeply,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  declared  that  ab- 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  8 1 

solution  should  be  given  for  certain  sins  for  which 
Tertullian  thought  it  ought  not  to  be  allowed ;  hence 
in  a  tract  discoursing  of  the  subject,  the  fiery  North 
African  condemns  both  the  opinion  and  expression 
of  the  Roman  Bishop  with  indignant  sarcasm,  "  I 
hear  there  has  been  an  edict  set  forth ;  the  Su- 
preme Pontifex  *** — (the  very  term  was  contemptuous, 
very  much  as  we  now  say  "  the  Great  Mogul,"  as  the 
title  was  at  this  time,  and  for  two  centuries  after, 
exclusively  appropriated  to  the  Roman  Emperor, 
hence  was  applied  here  to  the  Roman  Bishop  only 
in  derision) — "  The  Supreme  Pontifex  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  issues  an  edict ;  O  Edict,  on  which  cannot 
be  inscribed  '  good  deed,'  Far,  far  from  Christ's 
betrothed  (the  Church)  be  such  proclamation  ; 
She  does  not  make  it ;  if  because  the  Lord  said  to 
Peter,  *  to  Thee  I  have  given  the  key,'  etc.,  etc., 
you  presume  that  this  power  has  derived  to  you, 
what  sort  of  a  man  are  you,  subverting  and  chang- 
ing the  manifest  intention  of  the  Lord,  which  con- 
ferred this  gift  personally  on  Peter  ?  "  And  he  goes 
on  to  show  how  it  was  fulfilled  in  the  life  and  person 
of  Peter  himself,  but  that  it  conveyed  no  such  power 
to  his  successors  in  the  Episcopate,  and  most  as- 
suredly none  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  upon  any 
ground  whatever. 

If  this  opinion  of  Tertullian  stood  alone  in  the 

history  of  the  African  Church,  it  might  be  regarded 

as  only  the  utterance  of  an    individual  who  thus 

felt ;  but  it  becomes  an  invaluable  testimony  that 

6 


82  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

submission  to,  or  recognition  of,  the  authority  of 
Rome  was  not  an  accepted  doctrine  of  the  early 
ages,  when  we  find,  as  will  be  shown  later  on,  that 
it  was  likewise  repudiated  both  by  individuals  and 
councils  of  the  North  Africans,  continuously,  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years  from  the  time  of  Ter- 
tullian. 

Accordingly,  as  not  being  a  part  of  either  the  doc- 
trine or  the  practice  of  the  Primitive  Church,  it  can- 
not enter  into  a  basis  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom 
to-day. 

While  Tertullian  was  in  the  height  of  his  fame  and 
his  labors  (about  A.D.  200),  was  born,  probably  in  or 
near  Carthage,  Thascius  Cyprian,  the  second  of  the 
splendid  trio  of  North  African  teachers. 

He  was  also,  like  Tertullian,  trained  in  all  the  learn- 
ing: and  culture  of  the  educated  Roman  of  his  time. 
He  was  an  orator  by  profession,  and  a  teacher  of 
rhetoric.  His  wealth  was  ample,  he  lived  in  ele- 
gance, and  enjoyed  through  all  his  life  the  compan- 
ionship of  the  men  of  the  highest  rank  in  Roman 
society  and  in  the  state. 

He  was  not  converted  until  well  on  in  middle  life, 
somewhere  between  forty  and  forty-five.  He  had 
been  so  highly  esteemed  by  all  the  people  of  Car- 
thage, while  yet  a  heathen,  that  very  soon  after  his 
baptism  (and  not  in  literal  accordance  with  the 
canons)  he  was  called — almost  compelled — by  the 
Christians  in  Carthage  to  be  made  priest,  and  almost 
immediately  after  was  consecrated  as  their  Bishop, 


AND   ITS   TEACHERS.  83 

This  rapid  elevation  to  the  Episcopate  seemed  at  the 
time  to  be,  and  perhaps  (in  the  then  condition  of 
that  Church)  was,  fully  justifiable  and  right;  but  it 
was  not  so  regarded  by  all  the  clergy  of  the  province, 
and  it  originated  a  faction  hostile  to  Cyprian,  which 
remained  an  unceasing  source  of  annoyance  and  hin- 
drance to  him  through  all  his  after-life.  In  the  main 
outlines  of  his  theology  he  was  largely  influenced  by 
Tertullian.  He  may  well  have  heard  his  great  fel- 
low-countryman preach,  he  was  thoroughly  familiar 
with  all  his  writings,  and  was  constantly  accustomed 
to  call  him  his  master  and  teacher  (Magister). 

But,  as  a  Bishop  of  so  prominent  a  city  as  Carth- 
age he  was  called,  from  the  stormy  and  terrible  con- 
dition of  his  age  and  of  the  Church,  to  deal  chiefly 
with  urgent  and  perilous  public  questions  involving 
the  interests  of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  A  distin- 
guished French  writer*  says  of  him  :  "  Around  him 
turns  the  whole  Catholic  organization  of  his  age  ;  he 
is  its  director  and  master ;  "  he  directs  "  how  best  to 
encourage  the  feeble,  to  moderate  the  violent,  to  call 
back  the  apostates,  to  quiet  the  people,  to  maintain 
due  obedience  ;  what  a  wonderful  union  of  heroic 
faith  and  assiduous  prudence  could  alone  guide 
aright  that  grand  work,  which  at  the  same  time  em- 
braced life  and  death,  this  world  and  eternity ;  he 
was  a  great  administrator  and  a  statesman  of  the 
very  highest  order.'' 

*  Chasles  :  Etudes  sur  les  premiers  temps  du  Christianis- 
me,  etc* 


84  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

The  persecutions  in  North  Africa,  which  seem  to 
have  relaxed  for  some  years  after  Tertullian's  death, 
broke  out  with  new  fury  soon  after  the  accession  of 
Cyprian  to  the  Episcopate.  And  they  brought  with 
them  numerous  complications  the  most  puzzling  and 
difficult,  both  in  the  personal  relations  of  Cyprian 
and  in  his  official  action  as  Bishop. 

When  this  storm  first  fell  upon  Carthage,  Cyprian 
thought  it  best  for  his  work  and  the  Church  that  he 
should  withdraw  for  a  time  from  the  city  and  live 
in  retirement.  Undoubtedly  this  was  then  the  wise, 
right  course  to  take  (as  the  result  fully  justified). 
Although  removed  from  immediate  danger,  he  still 
directed  with  consummate  judgment,  ability,  and  tact 
all  the  affairs  of  his  diocese,  and  discussed  with  recog- 
nized wisdom  many  of  the  vital  and  yet  perplexing 
problems  which  the  New  Life  of  the  Church  was 
every  day  called  on  to  meet  in  other  portions  of  the 
Christian  world. 

After  about  fourteen  months  the  Bishop  returned 
to  Carthage,  but  it  was  only  to  find  yet  more  trou- 
blesome issues  forced  upon  him  while  the  difficul- 
ties of  his  position  were  greatly  increased  by  the 
malignant  strictures  on  his  fleeing  from  martyrdom, 
made  by  the  faction  opposed  to  him. 

One  of  the  most  puzzling  of  these  issues  (espe- 
cially under  his  circumstances)  arose  from  the  ex- 
cessive veneration  of  the  Christians  for  those  who 
had  suffered  in  the  persecution,  i.e.,  Christians  who 
were  waiting  in  prison  in  the  expectation  of  death, 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  85 

or  who  were  at  the  time  actually  suffering  from  tor- 
ture, starvation,  or  wasting  decay  as  slaves  in  the 
metal  mines. 

It  was  felt  by  all  hearts  that  these  were  sacrificed 
heroes  of  the  faith,  and  they  were  regarded  by  the 
Christian  community  with  a  reverence  and  devotion 
almost  without  limit.  It  is  a  cold  heart  indeed 
that  (even  after  so  many  centuries)  can  read  with 
undimmed  eye  the  piteous  stories  of  their  suffer- 
ings and  their  bravery.  One  of  their  number  (con- 
fessors, as  they  were  called)  writes  to  another  the 
fate  of  a  few  of  their  common  acquaintance.  It  is  a 
bare  catalogue  for  brevity,  and  yet  opens  a  vista  of 
unspeakable  horrors.  "  Bassus  is  in  the  metal  mines. 
Mappalicus  under  torture.  Fortunio  in  the  dun- 
geon. Paulus  has  been  tortured.  Victor,  Julia  (and 
several  others)  were  put  to  death  in  prison  by  hun- 
ger. In  a  few  days  you  will  hear  that  I  have  died 
the  same."  And  in  reply  the  friend  to  whom  he 
writes,  tells  him  of  "  the  brave  Saturninus,  who  would 
not  abjure  Christ  even  when  they  tore  him  with 
pincers  of  iron."  We  cannot  wonder  that  the  fellow- 
Christians  of  men  and  heroic  women  such  as  these 
should  have  rendered  them  a  love  hardly  short  of 
adoration. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  strange  (though  perhaps 
natural)  exhibition  of  human  nature,  that  many  of 
these  confessors  so  sublime  in  endurance,  so  unmoved 
before  death,  were  yet  so  elated  and  puffed  up  with 
the  reverence  and  adulation  given  them,  that  they 


86  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

came  to  deem  themselves  superior  to  all  the  order, 
discipline,  and  law  of  the  Church ;  and  to  believe 
that  they  possessed  supreme  power  to  arrest  its 
penalty  on  anyone  who  was  under  discipline,  or  to 
restore  to  full  membership  by  their  word  whatever 
apostate  or  other  offender  would  come  to  them  for 
absolution.  To  all  such  they  gave  a  certificate  or 
little  book,  which  demanded  of  the  Bishop  that  he 
should  at  once  reinstate  its  bearer  and  accept  as  final 
the  absolution  of  the  confessors. 

It  needs  no  explanation  to  show  the  innumerable, 
disastrous  evils  which  must  result  from  such  an  utter 
destruction  of  all  the  safeguards  and  barriers  both  of 
morals  and  government.  And  yet  so  blind  was  the 
devotion  of  the  mass  of  the  people  to  the  Holy  Con- 
fessors, that  only  a  man  of  Cyprian's  consummate 
ability  could  have  guided  the  Church  safely  through 
such  a  perilous  strait. 

I  cannot  pause  here  to  give  even  an  outline  of  the 
long  and  bitter  struggle  that  grew  out  of  this,  nor  of 
the  wise  judgment  which  shaped  the  course  of  Cyp- 
rian. Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  settled  the  principle 
for  all  after-time,  "  that  the  Church  must  be  governed 
and  discipline  ministered  by  the  legal  authority  and 
according  to  law,  not  on  the  personal  impulses  of 
even  the  most  holy,  or  the  independent  action  of 
even  the  most  meritorious." 

There  were  other  questions  in  which  he  was  in- 
terested, which  have  more  definite  bearing  on  the 
basis  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom. 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  87 

The  first  was,  whether  baptism  performed  by- 
others  than  ministers  of  the  Orthodox  Catholic 
Church  was  valid — or  ought  to  be  repeated  ?  Cyp- 
rian zealously  contended  that  such  baptisms  had 
no  value,  were  in  fact  not  Christian  baptism  at  all ; 
hence  all  who  came  into  the  Church  having  this  only, 
must  be  re-baptized,  or  rather  then  first  receive  true 
baptism.  But  in  this  he,  and  those  influenced  by 
him,  were  opposed  to  almost  all  the  rest  of  the 
Church,  and  to  the  ancient  usage  and  tradition  of 
the  greater  portion  of  the  Church,  which  had  always 
held  that  "  a  baptism  with  water,  with  Christ's  ap- 
pointed formula  '  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,'  was  a  true  bap- 
tism and  ought  not  to  be  repeated."  His  opposition 
to  this  did  not  prevail,  and  the  Church  has  always 
held  that  such  baptisms  were  valid,  and  all  such  per- 
sons are  baptized.  Hence  this  need  not  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  reunion.  And  the  Church  can  cor- 
dially recognize  all  who  have  been  thus  baptized  as 
true  members  of  the  body  of  Christ ;  that  is,  as  be- 
ing already  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
needing  only  to  be  restored  to  the  communion  of  her 
apostolic  form. 

The  second  question  above  referred  to  was  his  re- 
lation as  Bishop  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 

In  the  discussion  of  baptism,  as  on  several  other 
questions,  he  had  differed  very  widely  from  the 
Bishop  who  at  the  time  occupied  the  See  of  Rome. 
Upon  certain  of  these  questions  the  Roman  Bishop 


88  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

had  spoken  in  a  tone  which  savored,  in  the  opinion 
of  Cyprian,  too  much  of  authority;  in  response, 
upon  more  than  one  occasion,  the  Bishop  of  Carth- 
age not  only  "  differs  from  his  dear  brother  of  Rome  " 
(whom  he  also  addresses  as  "his  colleague  ")  in  most 
emphatic  language,  but  even  declares  him  wholly  in 
error;  and  while  reproving,  as  he  terms  it,  "the 
bitter  obstinacy  of  our  Brother  Stephen,"  he  rather 
wonders  "  whether  an  account  can  be  satisfactorily 
rendered  in  the  day  of  Judgment  for  a  priest  who 
maintains  the  opinion,  which  his  dear  brother  had 
announced  and  approved." 

He  willingly  admits,  as  did  all  the  Western  Church, 
the  primacy  and  honor  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  (he 
was  not  known  as  The  Pope  for  some  three  or  more 
centuries  after  this),  but  he  adds,  immediately  after 
asserting  this,  that  the  rest  of  the  apostles  were  also 
(the  same  as  Peter)  endowed  with  a  like  partnership 
both  of  honor  and  power.  Nor  did  Cyprian  and 
North  Africa  stand  alone  in  the  expression  of  like 
views  in  this  same  period  ;  among  the  correspond- 
ents of  Cyprian  was  a  Bishop  of  Asia,  one  Firmilian, 
who  says  in  reference  to  the  course  of  the  Roman 
Bishop  :  "  Those  who  are  at  Rome  vainly  pretend  the 
authority  of  the  Apostles"  in  the  claims  they  make 
for  their  decisions  on  points  of  doctrine.  "  Stephen 
(Bishop  of  Rome)  has  dared  to  depart  from  the 
peace  and  unity  of  the  Church,"  "and  he  has  re- 
belled against  the  sacrament  and  the  faith  with  con- 
tumacious discord." 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  89 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that,  with  such 
opinions  and  expressions  as  these,  neither  the  infal- 
libility nor  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Bishop 
could  have  been  regarded  in  that  age  as  an  essential 
of  either  belief  or  practice  in  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  hence  cannot  be  required  as  conditions  in  any 
basis  of  reunion  now. 

In  the  third  of  the  subjects  mentioned,  Cyprian 
gives  what  he  really  did  hold  as  the  Apostolic 
Catholic  teaching  on  the  constitution  and  order  of 
the  Church.  He  seems  to  have  formed  his  opin- 
ions on  this  very  early  in  his  ministry ;  but  these 
were  first  given  in  their  completed  form  in  the  im- 
mortal treatise  entitled  on  "  The  Unity  of  the 
Church,"  and  read  as  a  sort  of  charge  to  a  council 
at  Carthage  after  his  return  from  his  exile  during 
the  first  persecution.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  main- 
tains that  the  unity  of  the  Church  was  symbolized 
in  Peter;  but,  as  before  stated,  in  conjunction  with 
this  he  also  declares  that  a  partnership  in  power 
and  honor  was  also  given  to  all  the  apostles,  and 
that  the  principle  of  this  unity  was  that  "  The  whole 
episcopate  is  one  undivided  body,  of  which  each 
Bishop  holds  a  part  (as  a  member)  for  the  whole." 
"  The  Bishop  is  in  the  Church  and  the  Church 
in  the  Bishop ; "  hence  no  Bishop  is  or  can  be,  as 
Bishop,  supreme  over  any  other.  In  connection 
with  this  he,  again  and  again,  asserts  that  each 
Bishop  is  and  must  be  independent  in  his  own 
jurisdiction;  accordingly  he  tells  his  dear  brother  in 


90  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

Rome,  "  Each  prelate  has  in  the  administration  of 
his  own  church  the  exercise  of  his  free  will,  as  he 
shall  give  account  to  God ; "  and  elsewhere  he 
writes,  "  Every  Bishop  disposes  and  directs  his  own 
acts,"  etc. 

The  independence,  however,  thus  maintained  by 
Cyprian  did  not  mean  that  each  Bishop  was  wholly 
irresponsible  to  the  Church  for  what  he  taught,  and 
in  the  conduct  of  the  Diocese.  His  own  expression 
of  the  need  of  unity  and  his  personal  action  unite  to 
show  that  he  had  an  entirely  different  intention ;  the 
Bishops  were  free  from  subserviency  one  to  another, 
or  to  any  one  Bishop  as  supreme  over  all  the  others. 
But  as  a  corporate  unity,  a  whole  of  which  each 
held  an  equal  part  with  all  the  others,  and  for  the 
good  of  all,  they  were  all  responsible  to  the  control 
of  the  organic  whole ;  and  this  was  effected  (follow- 
ing the  examples  of  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem)  by 
the  council  or  synod  of  the  province,  or  of  the  whole 
church,  by  which  that  whole  was  represented  and 
through  which  it  acted. 

It  was  not  yet  the  time  for  the  great  General 
Councils  ;  Nice  was  not  convened  till  nearly  seventy 
years  after  Cyprian ;  but  from  the  beginning  of  his 
Episcopate  he  had  recognized  the  full  significance 
of  the  council,  and  so  constantly  had  he  called  his 
brethren  of  North  Africa  together  for  decision  and 
co-operation,  that  the  use  of  the  Council  was  vir- 
tually established  on  its  proper  basis  by  his  admin- 
istration.    Councils  had  always  been  an  essential 


AND  ITS  TEACHERS.  9 1 

element  in  the  working  of  the  Church,  but  he  first 
developed  their  full  effectiveness  and  influence;  and 
when  the  Universal  Councils  came,  the  Church  had 
already  learned  (mainly  from  Cyprian)  to  recognize 
in  them  the  right  and  sufficient  means  whereby  the 
Bishops,  in  their  several  jurisdictions,  were  enabled 
to  be  as  they  should  be,  independent  one  of  an- 
other, and  yet  the  unity  of  the  Church,  as  one  di- 
vine whole,  be  maintained  by  the  Council,  the  com- 
mon voice  of  all. 

An  universal  episcopacy  handed  down  from  the 
Apostles,  in  which  each  Bishop  has  an  independent 
authority,  but  under  responsibility  to  God,  and  the 
voice  of  the  Church  as  an  organic  whole  expressed 
through  its  councils,  was  undoubtedly  the  belief  of 
Cyprian  and  the  entire  Church  Catholic  of  his  age. 
As  such  it  would  need  very  strong  opposing  testi- 
mony to  reject  this  from  the  principles  that  were 
deemed  fundamental  in  the  organization  of  the 
Apostolic  Church. 

Although  Cyprian  had  avoided  the  first  persecu- 
tion, yet  the  time  came  at  length  when  he  himself 
felt  that  the  sacrifice  now  asked  of  him  was  to  give 
his  life  for  the  Church.  Another  persecution  was 
ordered,  especially  of  the  Bishops  and  chief  leaders 
of  the  Christians.  For  a  while  Cyprian  was  only 
banished  by  the  government  from  Carthage,  but 
after  a  time  the  Emperor  ordered  him  to  be  seized 
and  publicly  slain.  The  officer  sent  to  arrest  the 
Bishop,  when  he  goes  to  fulfil  his  orders,  asks  him  ; 


92  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

"  Art  thou  Thascius  Cyprian  ?*  "I  am."  "  Do  you 
call  yourself  the  father  and  guide  of  these  sacrileg- 
ious Christians  ?  "  "I  do."  "  The  sacred  emperor 
commands  you  to  sacrifice."  "  I  cannot."  "  Think 
what  you  are  doing."  "  Perform  that  which  is  ap- 
pointed you  ;  my  resolution  is  right,  I  have  no  need 
to  think."  After  this  simple,  yet  grand  confession, 
and  in  a  public  square  of  Carthage,  before  a  vast 
concourse  of  people,  the  trembling  executioner,  far 
more  terrified  than  his  victim,  severed  his  head  from 
his  body.  The  man  Cyprian  was  dead.  But  the 
wise  teacher,  the  far-seeing  leader,  the  spirit  that 
could  endure  scorn  when  it  was  needful  and  meet 
death  when  that  was  the  better,  is  still  living  and 
speaking,  and  can  never  die. 

Cyprian  was  martyred  in  258.  Wellnigh  one 
hundred  years  passed  by,  and  in  354  A.D.,  Aurelius 
Augustine,  the  third  and  greatest  of  the  distin- 
guished North  African  teachers  of  the  Church  was 
born;  and  perhaps  no  theologian  has  had  a  wider 
influence  on  the  thinking  of  the  Christian  world — 
certainly  not  of  the  Latin-speaking  portion  of  the 
Church — than  Augustine. 

Like  his  predecessors  he  was  born  in  North  Africa, 
and  like  them,  too,  was  a  trained  and  accomplished 
rhetorician.  His  mother,  Monnica,  was  a  fervid, 
prayerful  Christian,  but  his  father  seems  to  have 
been  a  coarse,  licentious  man,  and  the  youth  and 
early  manhood  of  Augustine  were  given  largely  to 
passionate  indulgence  and  dissipation;  with  all  his 


AND   ITS   TEACHERS.  93 

excesses  he  was  at  the  same  time  an  omnivorous 
student,  and  soon  manifested  his  earnestness  by  giv- 
ing himself  with  sincere  devotion  to  such  of  the 
schools  of  thought  with  which  he  came  in  contact,  as 
appeared  to  promise  satisfaction  to  his  eager  crav- 
ings. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  heresy  of  the  Mani- 
chees,  the  system  partly  Christian  and  partly  Zoro- 
astrian  of  an  able  Persian,  Mani,  from  whom  it  took 
its  name ;  this  claimed  to  have  solved  the  deep  mys- 
tery of  the  origin  of  evil  and  the  need  of  the  work 
of  Christ,  by  asserting  the  existence  and  activity  of 
two  equally  eternal,  ever  contending  beings,  God 
and  Satan,  Good  and  Evil,  Light  and  Darkness, 
Spirit  and  Matter;  the  good,  the  light,  the  spiritual, 
sought  to  draw  all  spiritual  life  away  from  the  ma- 
terial and  unite  it  with  itself;  the  evil  one,  matter, 
nature,  sin,  holds  man  in  the  bonds  of  his  fleshy 
nature  and  keeps  him  from  the  good ;  and  Christ 
was  the  means  by  whom  the  release  of  man  could 
alone  be  effected ;  but  in  himself,  and  in  these 
means,  the  Jesus  of  the  Manichees  was  wholly  alien 
to  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels. 

Of  course,  the  belief  in  such  a  system  as  this,  false 
and  imperfect  though  it  was,  must  have  won  Augus- 
tine more  or  less  from  his  sensual  courses;  but  after 
remaining  some  nine  years  in  connection  with  this 
body  it  failed  to  realize  for  him  the  lofty  ideal  he 
had  sought,  and  he  abandoned  it. 

About  this  time  the  writings  of  the  new  Platon- 


94  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

ists  (known  as  the  Alexandrian  Philosophy),  the 
wonderful  treatises  of  Plotinus,  and  the  works  of 
Plato  himself,  attracted  his  attention.  He  could  not 
study  these  in  their  original  Greek,  his  knowledge 
of  that  language,  as  of  the  Hebrew,  being  very  scant, 
but  there  seems  to  have  been  ample  translations  of 
them  into  Latin,  and  he  refers  to  them  continually, 
and  in  places  quotes  largely  from  their  very  text. 

The  study  of  the  Platonists  afforded  him,  indeed, 
the  sublimity  and  philosophic  depth  which  he  had 
failed  to  find  among  the  Manichees,  and  his  own 
thought  was  greatly  moulded  in  many  of  its  most 
important  features  by  his  Alexandrian  teachers. 
But  much  as  he  admired  them  and  used  their  writ- 
ings, they  also  lacked  the  adaptation  to  his  spiritual 
needs  which  his  soul  had  craved,  and  which  his  in- 
ternal struggles  now  demanded  as  a  necessity,  if  he 
were  ever  to  have  any  true  spiritual  life. 

While  in  this  searching,  baffled  state,  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  Ambrose,  the  illustrious 
Bishop  and  preacher  of  Milan.  Through  the  ser- 
mons and  personal  intercourse  of .  this  remarkable 
man,  the  interest  in  Christianity  which  had  been 
deadened  in  Augustine  since  he  left  his  mother's 
side  was  re-awakened,  and  after  a  considerable  time 
of  careful  thought  and  study,  he  found  in  the  Word 
of  God,  in  Christ,  all  that  he  had  sought  so  long 
and  vainly  elsewhere.  About  the  age  of  thirty- 
three  he  avowed  himself  a  Christian  and  was  bap- 
tized.    Four  years  later  (391)  he  was  made  a  Pres- 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  95 

byter  in  North  Africa,  and  four  years  after  this,  in 
395,  about  the  age  of  forty-one,  he  was  chosen  As- 
sistant or  Coadjutor  Bishop  of  the  diocese  and  city 
of  Hippo,  a  considerable  town  on  the  border  of  the 
sea,  about  sixty  miles  west  from  Carthage  and  soon 
became,  by  the  death  of  its  aged  Bishop,  the  sole 
Diocesan  of  Hippo. 

In  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  nearly,  as  it 
now  was,  since  the  death  of  Cyprian,  the  world  had 
undergone  one  of  the  most  stupendous  revolutions 
in  human  history. 

The  old  Roman-Greek  world,  with  all  its  relig- 
ions, its  philosophies,  its  modes  of  life,  had  died. 
All  the  elements  that  were  (twelve  centuries  later) 
to  constitute  modern  civilization  and  modern  Eu- 
rope were  in  full  operation,  although  as  yet  unde- 
veloped and  unrecognized  in  their  true  import. 

The  Emperor  Constantine  had  struck  the  death- 
knell  of  the  ancient  world,  when,  in  A.D.  313,  he  had 
proclaimed  himself  the  friend  and  protector  of  the 
Christian  Church.  By  summoning,  in  A.D.  325,  the 
great  Christian  Synod  or  Council  of  Nice,  and  ac- 
cepting its  deliverances  as  authority,  he  had  placed 
beside  the  Imperial  throne  a  power  that  in  the 
coming  centuries  would  exercise  a  dominion  wider, 
more  imperious  than  any  emperor  of  all  the  Caesars' 
had  ever  dared  to  dream ;  by  removing,  as  he  did 
in  A.D.  330,  his  court  and  capital  away  from  old 
Rome,  once  called  The  Eternal  City,  to  his  new 
oriental  seat,  Constantinople,  he  had  actually,  though 


9^  THE    NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

he  knew  it  not,  sealed  the  final  doom  of  the  Roman 
Empire  in  the  West,  and  transferred  the  power  of 
the  Empire  and  the  Caesars  to  the  barbarian  Goths 
and  the  Papal  hierarchy. 

The  history  of  the  world  from  this  time  on  is  lit- 
tle more  than  on  one  hand  the  tedious,  and  often 
painful,  record  of  the  lingering  decay  of  paganism 
and  all  the  ancient  life  that  had  gathered  around  it, 
and  on  the  other  of  the  desolations  wrought  by  the 
barbarians,  and  the  extension  of  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  the  Church,  until  it  finally  becomes  the 
master  of  the  very  destroyers  by  whom  at  times  its 
own  existence  had  seemed  to  be  imperilled. 

In  the  same  year  (a.d.  395)  in  which  Augustine 
was  made  Bishop,  the  Emperor  Theodosius  died,  the 
last  of  the  emperors  who  saw  the  Roman  Empire 
undivided  and  in  anything  like  its  ancient  glory. 
It  was  partitioned  on  his  death  between  his  two 
equally  worthless  sons,  and  in  eighty  years  more  the 
Western  portion  of  it  was  wiped  off  the  page  of  his- 
tory, and  its  remains  parted  among  the  invading 
tribes  who  were  rolling  over  it,  tide  after  tide  of  de- 
stroying Goths,  Vandals,  Huns,  Saxons,  Franks,  and 
a  score  of  other  consuming  swarms  from  the  fields 
and  forests  of  the  ferocious  North. 

With  the  decay  of  the  old  time  religions  and  be- 
liefs, which  was  now  very  universal  and  complete, 
the  old  virtues,  and  among  these  a  spirit  of  man- 
liness and  bravery  which  belonged  anciently  to  them, 
had  also  disappeared.     With    the  everywhere  pre- 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  97 

vailing  corruption  and  luxury  had  come,  as  they 
always  will,  selfish,  ease-seeking  effeminacy,  cow- 
ardice, and  all  the  degrading,  meaner  vices  which 
ever  accompany  an  era  of  infidel  and  dissolute  so- 
ciety. 

Unhappily,  too,  since  Christianity  had  become 
the  official  religion  of  the  Emperors  and  the  Em- 
pire, thousands  had  crowded  into  the  Church  with- 
out any  real  change  of  character,  or  any  actual 
amendment  in  either  their  principles  or  life,  and 
consequently  they  brought  with  them  much  of 
the  spirit  of  effeminacy  and  self-indulgence  which 
so  disgraced  the  Roman  paganism  of  that  age. 
Hence  the  curious  fact  that  the  great  Christian 
writers  of  this  period,  although  expressing  on  the 
one  hand  their  anguish  at  the  desolations  of  the 
barbarians,  yet,  on  the  other,  seem  often  to  look 
upon  the  invaders,  with  all  their  brutality,  more 
favorably  than  upon  either  the  degenerate  Roman 
or  the  false-hearted  betrayers  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Thus  a  Christian  writer  of  the  times  says  :  "  We  of 
the  empire  have  no  more  victories,  no  more  riches, 
no  more  peace;  we  know  to  increase  nothing  but 
our  vices.  The  old  Romans  terrified  the  world, 
and  ourselves  are  the  terrified  to-day.  If  we  are  alive 
at  all,  it  is  only  because  they  think  it  better  we 
should  live  and  pay  them  for  the  wretched  privi- 
lege. O,  shame,  shame !  Who  is  more  abject,  who 
can  be  more  vile  than  we?"  Then  turning  in  his 
wretchedness  to  the  yet  deeper  misery  of  the  Church 
7 


98  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

defiled  by  its  own  members,  he  cries  out :  "  Come, 
Saxons,  come,  Huns;  come  see  these  Christians; 
they  read  the  Gospel,  and  live  in  debauchery ;  they 
listen  to  the  apostles,  and  grovel  in  drunkenness  ; 
they  claim  to  follow  Christ,  and  yet  are  robbers."  ' 

The  culmination  of  this  "  Agony  of  the  Empire  " 
seemed  to  be  reached  when,  in  A.D.  410,  the  city 
of  Rome  itself  was  taken  by  the  half-barbarous,  half- 
heretic  Alaric,  and  given  up  to  his  ungoverned  hosts 
for  days  to  sack  and  kill  and  plunder.  Jerome 
(who  noted  the  course  of  the  desolation  from  his 
far-off  cave  in  Bethlehem)  had  written  :  "  The  Bar- 
barians as  a  deluge  have  devoured  Egypt,  Phoenicia, 
Syria;  the  whole  Orient  trembles;  the  Caucasus 
vomits  swarms  of  destroying  Huns,  they  delight  in 
slaughter;"  but  when  he  hears  of  the  destruction 
of  Rome,  the  end  of  all  things  seems  now  to  have 
come,  and  he  cries  out  in  his  misery,  "  Since  Rome 
has  perished,  what  else  can  be  saved  ? "  He  sees 
only  one  thing  that  can  endure,  and  he  believes  this 
wholly  because  he  believes  in  Christ's  promise. 
"  The  Roman  world  has  passed  away,  the  Chris- 
tians, the  Christians  only  are  left  standing.  It  is 
our  neck  only  that  is  not  bent  to  the  earth  "  in  utter 
hopeless  ruin. 

It  was  at  such  a  time,  and  amid  scenes  such  as 

these,    that   all    the   later   and    Christian    years   of 

Augustine's  life  were  spent.     Jerome  was  right  and 

Augustine  felt  with  him,  and  was  himself  to  be  one 

1  Chasles,  ut  supra,  quoting  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  p.  103. 


AND   ITS   TEACHERS.  99 

of  the  mightiest  agents  in  aiding  the  Church  to 
accomplish  the  tremendous  work  that  she  was  now 
set  to  perform,  the  work  of  building  a  new  world, 
a  world  of  higher  hopes,  nobler  possibilities,  grander 
results  than  the  history  of  man  had  ever  before  im- 
agined. 

To  him  was  given  a  task  wholly  different  from 
that  of  his  great  predecessors,  Cyprian  and  Tertul- 
lian.  Their  work  had  been,  from  the  conditions  of 
their  time,  to  contend  for  and  to  establish  certain 
special  principles  or  restrictions  connected  with  the 
practical  working  of  Christianity  and  the  Church ; 
his  task  was  to  present,  in  the  language  known  to 
thinking  men  all  over  the  Western  world,  and  in 
forms  adapted  to  their  type  of  mind,  all  that  was 
essential  in  the  theology  of  the  Church,  and  all  that 
was  proven  wisest  in  its  practical  application  to  life 
and  conduct. 

He  was,  in  fact,  the  creator  of  Western  theology, 
and  remains  to-day,  more  than  any  other  one  man, 
the  exponent  of  many  of  its  chief  lines  of  thought, 
the  source  whence  all  the  great  divisions  of  the 
Western  Church,  even  those  which  seem  most  di- 
verse, have  drawn  a  large  part  of  the  principles 
which  they  deem  fundamental. 

This  very  character  of  his  work,  in  connection 
with  his  wide  range  of  subjects  and  his  variety  of 
treatment,  will  of  course  render  it  impossible  to  at- 
tempt here  any  detail  of  the  manifold,  many-sided 
labors  of  Augustine. 


IOO  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

His  chief  importance  in  Church  history,  indeed 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  was  that  in  this  time  of 
mental  chaos,  upheaval  of  ancient  beliefs,  annihila- 
tion of  old  philosophies,  and  the  reconstruction  of 
the  world  on  new  principles  and  with  new  aims,  he 
presented  Christianity  to  the  Western  mind  in  such 
form  and  under  such  conditions  as  could  fill  the 
place  left  vacant  in  men's  thoughts  by  the  oblitera- 
tion of  the  old  systems,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
announced  the  truths  on  which  and  by  which  the 
new  order  of  things  could  be  created  and  maintained. 

Just  at  the  period  when  the  ancient  guides  of 
men  had  failed  them,  he  gave  to  the  thinkers  of  the 
West  a  coherent,  elevating  system  of  religion  and  of 
life ;  one  which  contained  vital  truths  for  the  pres- 
ent world  and  rich  hopes  for  the  future  life  of  man, 
and  which,  in  its  divine  origin  and  essential  truth, 
vastly  more  than  compensated  for  the  jarring  un- 
certainties which  perplexed  them  in  the  latter 
periods  of  their  old  pagan  superstitions  and  half- 
beliefs. 

He  could  not  have  known — no  man  could  have 
imagined — the  wonderful  revolution  that  was  to 
take  place ;  but  that  his  mind  with  a  divine  instinct 
felt  the  essential  principles  involved  in  it,  is  evident 
from  the  title  and  subject  of  his  greatest  single 
work,  one  to  which  he  gave  more  than  ten  years  of 
the  ripest  maturity  of  his  genius  and  learning,  "  The 
City  of  God."  In  this  he  places  in  contrast  two- 
world  powers   in  necessary  and  continual   antago- 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  IOI 

nism  and  hostility  :  one  is  the  world  of  sin,  repre- 
sented by  the  old  pagan  city,  heathen  Rome — this 
he  shows  to  be  false,  unsatisfying,  doomed  to  de- 
struction temporal  and  eternal ;  the  other  is  the 
divine  work  and  dominion  of  Christ,  the  Heavenly 
City,  here  the  Church  militant  holding  and  minis- 
tering truth,  warring  against  sin  and  evil,  hereafter 
the  Church  triumphant  and  glorying  with  Christ 
forever.  Hence,  as  the  City  of  God  it  is  the  ever 
conquering,  enlarging  kingdom  of  Christ  upon  the 
earth,  and  the  -home  and  heaven  of  His  elect 
throughout  eternity. 

The  conception  was  in  itself  sublime  and  his 
execution  of  the  great  idea  stands,  and  will  always 
stand,  as  one,  perhaps  even  the  noblest,  of  the  pre- 
sentations of  the  whole  scope  of  the  Gospel  which 
the  Church  in  all  her  ages  has  produced. 

His  several  personal  controversies,  however  im- 
portant they  may  have  seemed  at  the  time,  are  of 
comparatively  small  moment  compared  with  his 
general  influence  as  having  given  unity  and  com- 
pleteness to  the  whole  trend  and  expression  of  the 
thought  of  the  Western  Church,  first  directly  on  the 
times  in  which  he  lived,  and  then  continuously, 
through  other  channels,  down  even  to  our  own  age 
with  all  its  baffling  theologies.  And  now,  as  in 
the  former  centuries,  his  thoughts  enter  as  an  impor- 
tant factor  on  one  side  or  other  of  wellnigh  every 
discussion  on  religious  matters  of  any  moment  on 
which  the  minds  of  men  are  exercised. 


102  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

The  chief  of  his  individual  polemics  were  those 
Against  a  schism  which  had  revived  a  former  con- 
tention, and  which  repudiated  the  sacraments  of  all 
ministers  who  were  not  personally  holy  men.  It 
was  known  in  the  time  of  Augustine  as  Donatism, 
from  the  name  Donatus,  one  of  its  African  leaders. 
The  other,  which  has  more  present  interest  in  con- 
nection with  certain  lines  of  thought  in  our  own 
time,  was  Pelagianism.  This  was  originated  by  a 
monk  of  Britain  known  as  Pelagius,  who  assigned  so 
independent  a  power  to  the  individual  will  of  man 
that  there  was  no  real  necessity  in  his  salvation  for 
any  especial  supernatural  grace  of  God.  God  had 
prepared  the  means,  and  man's  natural  will,  aided  by 
the  ordinary  operations  of  the  Divine,  and  working 
in  accord  with  them,  could  do  all  the  rest. 

Augustine's  own  early  struggles  and  failures  had 
made  him  deeply  conscious  that  man,  of  himself,  was 
not  able  to  elevate  himself.  This  led  him  to  a 
fierce  assault  on  what  he  thought  to  be  the  unsafe 
and  dangerous  repudiation  of  Divine  Grace  by  the 
less  experienced  Briton ;  while  in  another  phase 
of  his  character,  that  profound  sense  of  the  omnipo- 
tence and  supreme  government  of  God  which 
marked  all  his  Christian  life,  constrained  him  to 
make  God  virtually  all  and  in  all  for  whatever  man 
needed  to  be  and  to  do  that  was  right. 

In  both  these  polemics  his  essential  principle  was 
true  and  has  been  so  recognized  by  the  Church  in 
all  ages ;  but   in  both  also  his  zeal,  and  what  he 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  IO3 

thought  his  logic,  led  him  to  positions  which  have 
pioneered  others  into  very  lamentable  errors. 

From  his  desire  to  see  the  unity  of  the  Church  in 
Africa  restored  during  the  Donatist  schism,  he  so 
far  forgot  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  as  he  taught 
them  elsewhere,  as  to  urge  the  Emperor  and  civil 
authorities  to  stamp  out  the  Donatists,  who  refused 
submission  to  the  Church,  by  the  hard  hand  of 
legal  enactment  and  compulsion.  Not  only  this, 
but  he  supports  his  demand,  upon  several  occa- 
sions, by  urging  as  a  scriptural  ground  for  it  the 
parable  of  our  Lord  in  which  the  servants  of  the 
Master  are  bidden  "  to  go  out  and  compel  them  to 
come  in  ; "  still  more  unaccountably,  if  possible,  he 
urges  that  the  example  of  Christ,  who  "  cast  Paul 
to  the  earth  with  his  power,"  was  a  proof  that  rulers 
should  first  "  compel  "  their  unbelieving  subjects  to 
conform  to  the  Faith  and  then  console  them  with 
the  Gospel.  It  needs  only  reference  to  the  past 
history  of  the  Church  to  learn  what  frightful  evils 
came  in  after-days  from  the  application  of  this  un- 
christlike  teaching  in  the  conduct  of  His  Church. 
In  all  fairness  to  so  good  and  loving  a  man  as 
Augustine  surely  was,  we  must  believe  that,  had  he 
known  such  evils  would  have  followed  from  these 
opinions  he  never  could  have  given  them  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  mighty  name. 

Another  class  of  errors  grew  out  of  his  over-strained 
position  on  the  Divine  omnipotence.  He  endeav- 
ored indeed  to  avoid  the   extremes  to  which  his 


104  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

views  upon  this  matter  were  liable,  but  in  the  strict 
logic  of  what  he  did  hold,  man  was  little  more  than 
a  machine;  the  arbitrary  sole  will  of  God  was 
substantially  the  only  power,  and  these  same  prin- 
ciples, under  the  inexorable  development  of  others 
who  were  not  restrained  by  his  large-hearted  hu- 
manism, were  made  to  conclude  in  the  frightful  doc- 
trine "  that  God  created  a  certain  number  of  men 
for  the  express  purpose  of  damning  them ; "  or,  in  a 
somewhat  milder  form,  though  with  no  logical  differ- 
ence in  sense,  "  By  the  decree  of  God,  some  men  are 
predestined  unto  everlasting  life,  and  others  pre-or- 
dained to  everlasting  death.'' 

It  may  seem  ungracious  to  refer  to  these  mistakes 
or  errors  of  so  great  a  man,  and  one  to  whom  the 
Church  is  so  supremely  indebted  ;  but  it  is  only  by 
showing  men  as  they  really  are  that  we  can  either 
write  history  correctly,  or  feel  it  can  be  read  with 
profit. 

When  now  we  ask  what  did  Augustine  contrib- 
ute that  will  help  us  in  settling  "  a  basis  for  Chris- 
tian Reunion,"  we  find  that,  first,  he  accepted  as  un- 
questionable verities  all  of  the  important  princi- 
ples which  were  presented  as  settled  in  our  study 
of  Tertullian  and  Cyprian.  The  apostolic  institu- 
tion of  the  Episcopate,  the  Divine  authority  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  Diocesan  independence  of  the 
Bishops,  with  the  organic  unity  of  the  Church  as  a 
whole,  and  the  denial  of  any  necessity  of  re-baptism 
of  those  who  have  once  been  baptized  with  water 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  105 

and  the  formula  appointed  by  our  Lord.  All  these 
are  dealt  with  by  Augustine  as  matters  which  every- 
one accepts,  and  which  are  integral  parts  of  his  very 
conception  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Besides  the 
principles  thus  settled  in  the  time  of  Augustine, 
there  was  another  issue  which  has  since  taken  a 
course  wholly  unlike  that  which  it  presented  in 
these  early  ages,  that  is  the  claim  of  supremacy  by 
the  Bishop  of  Rome.  The  Bishop  of  Rome  had,  it 
is  true,  from  time  to  time  asserted,  as  we  saw  with 
Tertullian  and  Cyprian,  that  his  opinions  and  judg- 
ments should  have  an  especial  weight  and  impor- 
tance attached-  to  them  in  certain  cases  by  other 
portions  of  the  Church.  Sometimes  these  claims 
were  in  a  general  way  admitted,  often  simply  ig- 
nored, and  not  infrequently  were  in  distinct  terms 
repudiated  and  repelled. 

This  latter  had  been  the  course  almost  uniformly 
with  the  Church  in  North  Africa.  But  a  case  oc- 
curred during  the  Episcopate  of  Augustine,  where 
the  issue  was  sharply  made  and  the  position  of  the 
African  Church  on  its  old  ground,  as  shown  by  Ter- 
tullian and  Cyprian,  most  emphatically  reasserted 
and  maintained. 

In  the  year  418  a  recalcitrant  African  priest,  one 
Apiarius,  being  excommunicated  by  his  Bishop,  goes 
to  Rome  and  seeks  the  favor  of  its  Bishop  Zosimus. 
He  orders  his  Diocesan  to  restore  him.1    The  Bishop 

1  Hefele's  History  of  the  Councils,  English  translation, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  461-481. 


106  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

and  Clergy  of  North  Africa  were  bitterly  indignant 
at  this  interference,  as  one  of  their  canons  prohib- 
ited any  such  appeal  beyond  the  sea ;  the  Roman 
Bishop  sent  a  messenger  to  Carthage  to  repeat  his 
demand,  and  he  bases  this  demand  upon  the  ground 
that  it  was  due  to  him  by  a  canon  of  the  first  and 
revered  synod  of  Nice.  The  Africans  reply  that 
they  had  never  heard  of  such  Nicene  canon,  and 
that  it  was  utterly  opposed  to  their  own  law  and 
usage ;  but,  as  the  authority  of  the  Nicene  Council 
was  supreme  by  the  consent  of  all  the  Church,  they 
agreed  to  send  a  deputation  to  Constantinople, 
Alexandria,  and  Antioch  to  obtain  authenticated 
copies  from  the  originals  in  these  cities,  in  the  mean- 
while allowing  the  nominal  restoration  of  Apiarius 
until  the  exact  words  of  the  canon  of  Nice  should 
be  ascertained  ;  at  the  same  time,  they  declared 
they  would  obey  this  if  it  were  such  as  Zosimus  had 
affirmed,  but  if  it  were  not  they  would  permit  no 
such  authority  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  After  sev- 
eral conferences,  and  many  angry  passages,  between 
the  Roman  messenger  and  the  African  Bishops,  the 
commissioners  to  the  East  returned  to  Carthage  and 
made  their  report,  which  was  acted  on  promptly  and 
decisively  by  a  synod  of  the  North  African  Bishops, 
in  424.  This  council  declared  that  no  such  canon 
was  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  originals  of  the  Synod 
of  Nice,  hence  that  no  such  authority  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  had  been  acknowledged  by  that  holy 
council ;  and  also  that  the  course  of  the  Bishop  of 


AND  ITS  TEACHERS.  107 

Rome  in  receiving  appeals  from  Africa  was  an  at- 
tack '  on  the  liberties  of  the  African  Church ;  and  ac- 
cordingly they  begged,  in  respectful  but  very  em- 
phatic language,  that  he  would  rid  them  as  soon 
as  possible  from  the  insolence  of  the  messenger 
whom  he  had  so  long  kept  in  Carthage,  and  would 
send  no  more  men  thereafter  to  interfere  in  their 
affairs. 

The  above  narrative  has  been  taken  in  all  its  es- 
sentials from  the  great  work  of  the  Roman  Bishop 
Hefele  on  the  Councils ;  and  the  only  serious  expla- 
nation he  attempts  is,  that  the  Roman  Bishop  did 
not  know  what  the  Nicene  canons  really  were,  and 
had  unwittingly  mistaken  one  passed  at  Sardica  for 
an  act  of  the  first  and  greatest  of  all  the  Christian 
councils.  But,  unfortunately,  this  does  not  help 
the  claim  of  the  Pope,  as  the  power  he  had  claimed 
is  no  more  acknowledged  in  the  Sardican  canon 
than  in  any  of  Nice ;  and  its  value  as  an  excuse  for 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  still  further  impaired  by  the 
fact  that  the  successors  of  Zosimus,  even  after  this 
crushing  exposure,  still  continued  for  a  considerable 
period  to  quote  the  Sardican  canon  as  actually  a 
decree  of  Nice.2 

There  is  no  doubt  but  Augustine  attended  some 
or  all  of  these  councils,  and  as  he  nowhere  ex- 
presses any  opinion  inconsistent  with  their  action, 
we  may  safely  assume  that  he  held  on  this  matter 

1  Hefele,  vol.  ii.,  p.  480. 

3  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1224. 


108  THE  NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH 

the  same  judgment  which  had  been  pronounced  by 
his  predecessors,  incorporated  into  the  legislation  of 
the  African  Church,  and  announced  with  such  un- 
mistakable clearness  and  vigor  by  the  Carthaginian 
Council  of  424,  A.D. 

Hence,  we  are  entitled  to  conclude  that  the  action 
of  the  North  African  Church  as  continued  through 
all  the  time  we  know  its  history,  and  approved  by 
all  its  distinguished  teachers,  gives  no  reason  to  re- 
gard submission  to  the  Pope,  much  less  a  belief  of 
his  infallibility,  as  rightly  part  of  any  basis  for  the 
reunion  of  Christendom.  On  the  contrary,  all  we 
learn  from  its  history  or  hear  from  its  great  masters 
shows  that  no  such  claim  was  admitted  by  the 
African  Church,  but,  on  still  stronger  grounds, 
would  have  been  utterly  repudiated  as  an  essential 
element  of  primitive  inter-communion. 

With  S.  Augustine  ended,  not  only  the  brilliant 
succession  of  North  African  teachers,  but  virtually 
the  North  African  Church  and  the  African  Prov- 
inces as  distinct  nationalities. 

While  Augustine  was  dying,  in  430,  the  Vandal 
hordes  of  Genseric  were  besieging  his  city,  Hippo, 
and  ravaging  to  utter  desolation  all  the  country 
around  it.  The  sound  of  the  yells  of  the  Barbarians 
may  have  mingled  with  the  prayers  and  hymns 
which  went  up  from  his  chamber  of  death.  His 
eyes  may  have  seen  night  after  night  the  horizon 
flaming  with  the  fires  of  the  burning  towns  of  his 
miserable  people;  and  hardly  were  his  funeral  rites 


AND  ITS   TEACHERS.  IOg 

fairly  over  before  the  entire  population  of  Hippo 
who  had  escaped  death,  abandoned  their  city  a  prey 
to  the  invaders,  and  in  poverty  and  hopeless  exile 
sought  refuge  in  Italy.  Carthage,  too,  five  hundred 
and  eighty-five  years  after  its  final  conquest  by 
Rome,  became  the  spoil  of  the  Northern  Barbar- 
ians. And  North  Africa  ceases  henceforth  to  have 
any  marked  place,  or  play  any  notable  part,  in  either 
the  history  of  the  old  world  or  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  the  new. 

With  the  death  of  Augustine  closes  in  fact  the 
period  of  the  settlement  and  formulation  of  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  Constitution,  Faith,  and 
Worship  of  the  Church.  In  the  ages  that  followed 
him  some  of  these  came  to  be  perverted,  some 
frightfully  misapplied,  but  none  that  were  funda- 
mental were  permanently  destroyed. 

In  the  course  of  centuries,  the  excess  of  a  reaction 
against  these  errors  and  perversions  has  led  some 
portions  of  Christendom  to  a  neglect,  and  others 
even  to  a  rejection,  of  certain  of  the  Apostolic 
primitive  landmarks  and  institutions.  But  there  is 
in  our  day,  thank  God,  a  spirit  awakening  far  and 
wide  to  find  once  more  a  basis  whereon  the  dis- 
persed sheep  of  Christ's  flock  may  stand  together; 
and  may  become,  in  the  later  age  as  in  the  olden 
time,  again  one  fold,  as  we  all  have  one  Shepherd. 
This  cannot  be  found  in  the  chaotic  ferment  of  un- 
ordered individualism  ;  nor  can  it  be  in  mediaeval 
Romanism,  or  modern  Papacy  which  has  both  ad- 


110  THE   NORTH  AFRICAN  CHURCH. 

ded  new  doctrines  to  the  Apostolic  Faith,  and  sub 
verted  the  primitive  constitution  of  the  Apostolic 
Church. 

If  Christendom  shall  ever  be  reunited,  it  must 
be  on  the  basis  of  the  creed,  the  orders,  and  the 
sacraments  which  "  Holy  Scriptures  and  ancient 
authors  diligently  read,"  shall  evidence  to  have 
been  existing  "  in  the  Church,  from  the  Apostles' 
time"  and  through  all  the  centuries  when  it  yet 
was  one. 

J.  F.  Garrison. 

311  Benson  Street,  Camden,  N.  J. 


Gbe  Scbool  of  Hleyanoria. 


LECTURE    IV. 

REV.  JOHN  H.  EGAR,  D.D., 
Rector  of  Zion  Church,  Rome,  N.  Y. 

THE  SCHOOL   OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

There  are  in  this  audience,  I  doubt  not,  those 
who  have  enjoyed  the  privilege,  which  has  not  been 
permitted  to  your  lecturer,  of  making  the  voyage  up 
the  Nile.  You  are  familiar  with  the  present  aspect 
of  the  city  which  bears  the  name  of  the  great  Greek 
conqueror,  who  founded  it  for  the  capital  of  his 
world-wide  dominion.  You  know  the  unchange- 
able features  of  sea  and  sky,  of  burning  sun  and 
desert  sands,  of  mighty  river  and  distant  hills,  of 
pyramids  almost  as  enduring  as  the  mountains ; 
and  you  have  felt  the  spell  of  that  vast  and  won- 
drous civilization  of  ancient  Egypt,  of  which  the 
ruins  were  around  you.  If,  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  desolate  temples  as  they  are  now,  you  can 
reconstruct  the  grandeur  of  those  temples  as  they 
stood  perfect  in  their  glory,  with  their  forests  of  pil- 
lars, their  colossal  statues,  their  avenues  of  sphinxes, 
their  armies  of  priests,  and  their  multitudes  of  wor- 
8 


114  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

shippers,  you  must  feel  what  a  background  they  are 
for  the  scene  of  the  conflict  of  Christianity  with  a 
paganism  powerful  enough,  and  earnest  enough  at 
one  time,  to  have  reared  and  peopled  those  monu- 
ments of  its  religion,  and  what  a  power  that  pagan- 
ism must  have  still  possessed  at  the  advent  of  our 
Lord,  even  though  its  mightiest  works  belonged  to 
the  then  distant  past.  And  you  may  appreciate 
the  visible  triumph  of  Christianity,  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  revolution  it  had  accomplished,  when,  in 
the  year  386,  the  decree  went  forth  from  the  Em- 
peror Theodosius  and  was  executed,  which  shut 
them  all  up,  and  left  them  to  become  what  they  are 
seen  to  be  to-day. 

But  the  Alexandria  that  now  is,  is  no  adequate 
representative  of  the  Alexandria  of  the  first  centur- 
ies of  the  Christian  era ;  nor  are  the  ruined  temples 
of  the  Nile  the  monuments  of  the  life  that  swarmed 
in  its  busy  streets.  The  ancient  Alexandria  was 
more  a  Greek  than  an  Egyptian  city ;  but  its  com- 
mercial position  made  it  cosmopolitan.  Its  popu- 
lation of  a  million  souls  was  made  up  of  Greeks, 
Egyptians,  and  Jews,  with  a  sprinkling  of  all  other 
races.  It  was  the  centre  at  once  of  the  commerce, 
the  arts,  and  the  learning  of  the  time.  It  was,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  a  New  York  for  commerce, 
a  Paris  for  art,  for  frivolity,  for  turbulence,  and  an 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  for  learning,  all  rolled  into 
one.  The  outward  life  of  Alexandria  has  been  de- 
picted for  us  in  works  of  imagination,  by  two  mas- 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 1  5 

ters  of  the  art  of  description  '  and  no  mean  reputa- 
tion for  learning  ;  and  if  their  knowledge  of  the  city 
is  at  fault,  I  am  not  able  to  correct  it.  Their  his- 
toric characters,  of  course,  have  been  accommodated 
to  the  needs  of  fiction ;  they  have  not  been  Zolas 
in  picturing  the  vice  of  a  heathen  city ;  but  they 
have  represented  Alexandrian  life  as  they  have  con- 
ceived it  from  their  severer  studies,  and  we  may 
conveniently  think  of  it  as  they  have  drawn  it.  The 
Empire  of  Alexander  did  not  last ;  but  under  the 
Ptolemies  Alexandria  grew  to  be  of  importance, 
and  when  the  Roman  dominion  unified  the  three 
continents  the  advantages  foreseen  by  its  founder 
accrued  to  it.  Commanding  the  commerce  of  the 
Nile,  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Mediterranean,  it  be- 
came, for  wealth,  population,  and  power,  the  second 
city  of  the  Empire.  Profiting  by  the  enlightened 
policy  of  the  Ptolemies,  who  desired  to  know  the 
world  opened  to  them  by  the  Macedonian  con- 
quests, it  became  the  centre  of  learning.  Its  great 
library  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world  ;  and 
though  the  core  of  its  culture  was  Greek,  it  inter- 
ested itself  in  all  other  intellectual  developments, 
and  the  theosophies  of  the  East,  the  traditional  lore 
of  the  Egyptians,  the  sacred  scriptures  of  the  Jews, 
were  welcome  subjects  for  its  inquiring  minds,  as 
well  as  the  poetry  and  philosophy  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  physical  science  of  the  age.     The  cultivated 

1  Charles  Kingsley  in  Hypatia,  and  George  Ebers  in  sev- 
eral works. 


Il6  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

Alexandrian  was  above  all  things  cosmopolitan. 
He  aimed  to  know  everything,  to  be  everything, 
to  harmonize  everything.  His  chief  deity  was  none 
of  the  traditional  deities  of  the  Egyptians,  or  Greeks, 
or  Romans,  or  Syrians ;  it  was  Serapis,  an  impor- 
tation from  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  whose  pre- 
vious obscurity  permitted  him  to  be  invested  with 
such  attributes  as  the  Alexandrian  mind  conceived 
to  belong  to  Deity  in  general,  and  under  whom,  or 
beside  whom,  could  coexist  all  the  other  deities 
which  any  idolator  had  been  brought  up  to  wor- 
ship. 

Into  this  great,  wealthy,  luxurious,  learned,  proud 
city,  at  some  time  in  the  second  half  of  the  first 
century,  entered  the  Evangelist  St.  Mark  with  a 
few  companions,  to  convert  it  to  the  Christian  faith. 
What  were  the  means  and  conditions  of  success  ? 
Conceive  a  Christian*  congregation  once  established, 
what  were  the  arms  with  which  it  was  to  contend 
against  all  that  array  of  worldliness  ?  The  answer 
is  very  simple,  but  implies  a  great  deal.  S.  Mark 
came  with  the  Gospel  in  the  Church.  The  Christian 
congregation  once  established  in  Alexandria,  pro- 
claimed the  Gospel  in  the  Church.  That,  I  say,  is 
the  answer ;  but  it  implies  a  great  deal.  For  what 
is  the  Gospel  in  the  Church  ? 

Before  we  proceed  to  answer  this  question,  let  us 
look  at  some  of  the  providential  provisions,  in  the 
age  preceding  our  Lord,  for  opening  the  way  for  the 
Gospel   in   this   city   of   Alexandria.      M.    Guizot 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  llj 

somewhere  has  the  remark  that  Christianity  was 
planted  at  the  confluence  of  three  great  civilizations, 
the  Hebrew,  the  Greek,  and  the  Romam  I  venture 
the  emendation  that  Christianity  was  planted  at  the 
confluence  of  four  great  civilizations,  the  Hebrew, 
the  Greek,  the  Roman,  and  the  Oriental.  For, 
surely  we  must  not  overlook  the  power  and  influ- 
ence of  that  great  Oriental  civilization  which  had 
been  developed  in  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Babylon ; 
nor  may  we  think  it  was  sufficiently  represented  by 
the  Hebrew.  We  cannot  understand  the  early  his- 
tory of  Christianity  and  its  conflicts  with  heresy, 
unless  we  allow  for  the  influence  of  Orientalism  in  the 
Gnostic  sects.  Now,  Alexandria  was  the  meeting- 
place  of  all  these  civilizations ;  it  was  that  which 
gave  it  its  cosmopolitan  character.  Especially  were 
the  Jews  numerous  and  influential  there.  The 
policy  of  Alexander  and  the  earlier  Ptolemies  gave 
them  equal  political  privileges  with  the  Macedon- 
ians ;  and  as  a  great  part  of  the  commerce  and 
banking  of  the  city  was  in  their  hands,  they  asso- 
ciated on  equal  terms  with  the  other  races  in  Alex- 
andria, and  learned  to  accommodate  themselves  to 
their  surroundings.  Now,  it  is  one  law  of  the  Provi- 
dential training  of  mankind,  that  position  influences 
thought.  The  thought  of  the  individual,  whoever 
he  may  be,  has  relation  to  his  age,  his  country,  and 
his  circumstances.  The  Jew  in  Alexandria  being 
in  a  different  position  to  that  of  the  Jew  in  Pales- 
tine— being  in  contact  with  the  great  world  of  com- 


Il8  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

merce,  of  movement,  of  thought — could  not  be  ex- 
clusive like  the  Palestinian  Rabbi.  He  was  put 
where  he  was  by  Divine  Providence  to  see  another 
side  of  Divine  Revelation — to  see  its  relations  to 
the  world  at  large — relations  which  the  Rabbi  at 
Jerusalem,  with  his  Pharisaic  exclusiveness,  could 
not  see.  Among  other  things,  he  gave  up  the  He- 
brew language  and  became  a  Hellenist,  that  is,  a 
Greek-speaker.  It  was  for  the  Jews  of  Alexandria 
that  the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  made — the  first  example,  it  is  said,  of  the  trans- 
lation of  a  book  from  one  language  into  another ; 
and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  sacred  scriptures  of 
the  Mosaic  covenant  were  accessible,  not  only  to  the 
Jews  of  the  dispersion,  but  to  such  of  the  Gentile 
world  as  might  desire  to  investigate  them.  But  the 
learned  Jews  of  Alexandria  not  only  translated  their 
scriptures  into  Greek  ;  they  studied  the  Greek  phil- 
osophers ;  and  so  there  arose  the  Hellenistic  School, 
the  exponent  of  a  wider  and  more  catholic  Old 
Testament  theology  than  that  of  the  Rabbis  of 
Palestine  ;  one  that  found  points  of  contact  between 
the  Hebrew  prophets  and  the  sages  of  Greece.  You 
remember  how  Apollos  is  spoken  of  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  as  "  an  eloquent  man  and  mighty  in 
the  Scriptures."  He  was  a  learned  Alexandrian, 
the  representative  in  Scripture  of  that  school,  which 
was  an  important  intermediary  between  Gentile 
culture  and  Hebrew  orthodoxy. 

The   most    illustrious    member   of    the    Jewish 


THE  SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  119 

school  of  Alexandria  was  Philo.  He  was  a  young 
man  at  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  and  lived  till  the 
middle  of  the  first  century.  Though  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Philo  became  a  Christian,  the  influ- 
ence of  his  writings  must  have  been  great  upon  the 
Christian  thinkers  of  Alexandria,  as  it  was  upon  the 
philosophers  of  the  succeeding  age.  In  fact,  the  in- 
fluence of  this  Jew  upon  Alexandrian  philosophy  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  pe- 
riod. At  the  time  of  Philo,  Greek  philosophy  was 
virtually  dead.  It  had  asked  all  possible  questions, 
and  failing  to  find  an  answer,  it  had  degenerated  in 
the  New  Academy  into  general  skepticism  and 
empty  disputation.  Philo  regenerated  it  by  giving 
it  a  new  principle  and  a  new  doctrine.  He  had 
been  trained  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment scriptures :  he  had  come  to  see  in  them,  by 
his  method  of  allegorical  interpretation,  a  hidden 
mystery  in  every  word  ;  and  so  he  brought  to  Greek 
philosophy  the  new  principle  of  Faith — not  as  ra- 
tional belief  upon  evidence  divinely  attested,  but  as 
the  intuition  of  things  divine  ;  and  the  new  doctrine 
of  the  Logos,  or  Divine  Word,  not  as  S.  John  re- 
veals Him,  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father,  but  as 
the  chief  of  a  world  of  "  Potencies,"  or  Powers,  the 
revealers  and  agents  of  the  absolute,  incomprehen- 
sible Deity.  It  is  not  to  be  admitted  that  Alexan- 
drian theology  is  to  be  traced  back  to  Philo  rather 
than  to  S.  John,  or  that  S.  John  borrowed  from 
Philo;  the  difference  between    Philo  and  S.  John 


120  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

has  been  well  said  to  be  that  the  Logos  of  Philo  is 
a  medium  of  disjunction,  separating  God  from  the 
world  ;  the  Logos  of  the  New  Testament  one  of  con- 
junction; in  Philo  it  is  because  God  is  so  far,  in 
the  New  Testament  because  He  is  so  near ;  in 
Philo  the  Logos  is  an  unreal,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment a  real  and  essential  Personality.  While,  then, 
Philo  was  studied  by  the  Alexandrian  Fathers  as 
an  expositor  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  influenced 
them  not  altogether  well  by  his  excessive  allego- 
rism,  they  had  in  S.  John's  Gospel  the  corrective 
of  his  error,  and  were  in  no  need  of  learning  their 
theology  from  him.  But  in  the  domain  of  philo- 
sophy, where  there  was  not  this  safeguard,  his  in- 
fluence was  immense.  His  doctrine  of  the  Logos 
and  other  Potencies  was'  the  starting-point  of  the 
Alexandrian  Gnostic  systems ;  and  after  they  had 
run  their  course  it  was  the  inspiration  of  the  Neo- 
Platonic  School,  which  was  for  centuries  the  shadow 
and  the  antagonist  of  Christianity.  So  that  Philo 
was  an  authority  in  widely-differing  and  opposed 
schools.  I  say  Philo,  but  Philo  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  Hellenistic  School  of  Alexandria.  And 
so  it  was  that  in  this  way  the  higher  questions  in- 
volved in  Christianity  became  of  interest  to  the 
thinkers  of  Alexandria,  and  so  the  Hellenistic 
School  was  an  element  in  the  preparation  for  Chris- 
tianity in  that  city ;  because,  when  questions  are 
once  started,  people  are  at  least  willing  to  hear  those 
who  profess  to  be  able  to  answer  them. 


THE  SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  121 

Let  us  now  return  to  our  question — what  were 
the  arms  with  which  the  first  preachers  in  Alexan- 
dria were  furnished  to  subdue  it  to  Christianity  ? 

S.  Mark  and  his  associates  did  not  come  to  the 
great  city  to  teach  the  philosophy  of  Philo  or  any 
other  philosophy ;  they  came  to  bear  witness  to  the 
facts  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  press  home  upon  the  conscience 
the  need  of  salvation  through  Him.  Their  preach- 
ing was  the  assertion  of  those  facts  which  are  wit- 
nessed to  in  the  records  of  the  four  Evangelists,  one 
of  whom  was  S.  Mark  himself,  and  which  are 
summed  up  once  for  all  in  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene 
Creeds.  Put  yourselves  in  the  presence  of  polythe- 
ism, of  a  philosophy  which  justifies  polytheism,  of 
an  eclectic  philosophy  which  includes  all  polythe- 
isms, and  you  will  see  that  these  truths  of  the  Apos- 
tles' and  Nicene  Creeds  are  no  arbitrarily  selected 
propositions,  but  the  fundamental  truths  which  it  is 
necessary  to  insist  upon,  in  order  to  turn  the  hearer 
from  polytheism,  from  error,  from  idolatry,  to  the 
worship  of  the  one  true  God,  and  to  salvation 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Perhaps  in  saying 
this  I  am  only  repeating  what  has  been  said  in  other 
lectures  of  this  course.  If  so,  I  beg  that  you  will 
pardon  the  iteration,  for  it  is  necessary  to  my  sub- 
ject. The  Creed  is  simply  the  Gospel,  so  to  speak, 
in  portable  form.  The  Creed  is  the  Gospel,  and  the 
Gospel  is  the  Creed  ;  the  contents  of  each  are  equal ; 
they  are  the  same.     The  facts  confessed  in  the  Creed 


122  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

were  the  facts  taught  by  S.  Mark  and  his  success- 
ors in  the  first  period  of  the  Alexandrian  Church,  as 
in  every  period  of  its  history.  That  was  the  founda- 
tion. That  is  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 
That  was  the  basis  of  the  Alexandrian  theology,  as 
of  all  Catholic  theology  whatsoever. 

But  further : — The  convert  to  this  Creed  was,  by 
the  fact  of  believing  it — not  merely  as  an  orthodox 
confession,  but  as  a  living  faith — called  and  pledged 
to  a  life  of  purity,  of  honesty,  of  charity,  of  devo- 
tion, of  holiness.  His  faith  wrought  repentance  and 
amendment  of  life,  hatred  of  sin  and  love  of  God, 
separation  from  the  wickedness  of  the  world,  com- 
munion with  God,  and  association  with  the  people 
of  God.  It  imposed  upon  him,  therefore,  for  rea- 
sons natural,  and  for  reasons  supernatural — for  dis- 
cipline, for  safeguard,  for  training  and  instruction, 
for  special  helps  of  Divine  grace,  for  the  means  of  ad- 
vancement in  holiness — the  obligation  of  becoming 
incorporate,  through  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  in  the 
visible  Church,  the  community  of  the  professed  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  of  preserving  his  or- 
ganic union  with  that  body  and  with  its  Head, 
through  the  Sacrament  of  the  Holy  Communion. 

Again  : — By  this  admission  to  and  continuance  in 
the  communion  of  the  Church,  he  was  placed  under 
the  supervision  and  government  of  its  appointed  and 
lawfully  ordained  officers,  the  bishops  and  clergy, 
and  united  in  the  bond  of  brotherhood  with  all  its 
members,   wheresoever    dispersed   throughout    the 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  12$ 

world,  and  especially  in  his  own  locality.  Moreover, 
if  he  were  unfaithful,  and  therefore  excluded  from 
the  communion  of  the  Church,  he  was  felt  to  be  no 
longer  in  a  state  of  salvation.  No  one  can  read  the 
early  records  of  Christianity  without  finding  that  the 
Church  took  this  ground  with  regard  to  its  members 
from  the  very  first ;  and  you  will  see,  if  you  reflect  a 
moment,  that  it  could  not  do  otherwise.  At  the 
present  day,  when  Christianity  is  brought  face  to 
face  with  heathenism  in  the  mission  field,  it  is 
obliged  to  take  the  same  ground.  The  missionary, 
whatever  be  his  denominational  standard,  must  and 
does  act  upon  the  method  of  the  early  Church,  be- 
cause it  is  the  only  method  of  dealing  with  the  cir- 
cumstances. 

This,  then,  is  the  foundation  never  to  be  lost 
sight  of  in  tracing  the  course  of  Alexandrian 
theological  thought.  Let  me  here,  then,  call  your 
attention  to  one  of  the  lessons  we  are  to  learn  from 
these  lectures.  Manifestly,  in  appealing  to  the 
thinking  mind  of  a  philosophic  and  cosmopolitan 
people,  the  first  need  is  to  get  them  to  have  a  real 
grasp  of  the  facts,  that  is,  a  real  faith  in  them. 
The  very  atmosphere  of  toleration  in  which  such  a 
people  lives  is  apt  to  generate  an  easy  indifference 
or  careless  acquiescence,  instead  of  a  real  faith ;  and 
to  create  in  the  mind  of  the  thinker  who  cares  to 
consider  them,  the  disposition  to  explain  them 
away  so  as  to  make  them  fit  into  his  own  eclectic 
system.     I  ask  you  to  take  notice,  then,  how  Chris- 


124  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

tianity  from  the  very  beginning  adopted  the  method 
of  the  inductive  philosophy — of  that  philosophy 
which  dominates  us  at  the  present  day — of  that 
philosophy  of  which  Bacon  is  the  expounder,  and 
which  we  recognize  as  the  mother  of  all  true  science 
— the  method  which  starts  with  facts,  and  upon  the 
solid  basis  of  facts  erects  its  edifice  of  reasoning. 
The  principle  is  that  facts  are  superior  to  theories  ; 
and  it  was  by  maintaining  this  principle  that  the 
faith  of  the  Church  overcame  all  the  philosophies  of 
the  ancient  world.  Facts  are  superior  to  theories, 
and  therefore,  when  the  fact  and  the  theory  come 
in  conflict,  the  theory  must  give  way  to  the  fact, 
and  not  the  fact  to  the  theory.  So  it  was  that 
Christianity  entered  in  among  the  philosophical 
theories  of  the  ancient  world,  and  among  the  phil- 
osophical theories  of  that  great  and  learned  city  of 
Alexandria.  It  proclaimed  certain  facts  of  which  it 
had  sufficient  witness.  "  That  which  was  from  the 
beginning,"  says  S.  John  in  his  first  Epistle,  "  which 
we  have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes, 
which  we  have  looked  upon  and  our  hands  have 
handled  of  the  Word  of  life  ....  that  which 
we  have  seen  and  heard,  declare  we  unto  you." 
"  We  are  witnesses  of  these  things,"  say  the  Apostles 
in  the  Acts,  time  and  again  ;  and  so  it  was  every- 
where. Now,  these  facts  of  the  life  and  death  and 
resurrection  of  our  blessed  Lord,  of  which  the 
Apostles  were  witnesses,  of  which  the  Apostolic 
office  is  the  continuous  witness  to  the  end  of  the 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA,  125 

world,  will  not  fit  into  any  false  philosophy,  whether 
it  be  the  dualism  or  pantheism  of  the  first,  or  the 
materialism  of  the  nineteenth  century.  And  there- 
fore the  first  question,  in  the  first  or  the  nineteenth 
century,  upon  which  it  depends  whether  the  an- 
swerer is  a  Christian  at  all  or  not,  is,  Do  you  accept 
the  facts  ?  or,  as  the  baptismal  interrogatory  is, 
"  Dost  thou  believe  all  the  articles  of  the  Christian 
faith  as  contained  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  ?  "  If  you 
do,  then,  your  philosophy  being  true  and  right, 
will  find  here  its  explanation  and  completion  ;  but  if 
it  be  a  false  and  wrong  philosophy,  it  will  find  here 
its  correction  and  antidote.  That  was  how  Chris- 
tianity entered  into  the  thought  of  the  world,  not 
in  Alexandria  only,  but  everywhere.  That  was  how 
it  fought  its  fight  and  won  its  victories.  That  was 
the  line  which  divided  the  theology  of  the  Church 
from  the  speculations  of  the  heretics.  The  heretic 
pared  away  the  facts  of  the  faith  to  fit  his  theories ; 
the  Catholic  theologian  fitted  his  theories  to  his 
facts,  he  built  up  his  theology  on  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints.  The  truths  or  facts,  divinely 
revealed  if  supernatural,  sensibly  perceived  if  nat- 
ural— the  truths  or  facts  of  the  unity  of  God,  of  the 
Eternal  Sonship,  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God,  of  His  human  life,  death,  and  resurrection,  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  visible 
and  really  existing  society,  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
the  future  resurrection,  and  the  life  everlasting — 
these  were  preached  as  facts,  not  as  speculations,  or 


126  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

opinions,  or  theories ;  they  were  to  dominate  theo- 
ries because  they  are  facts,  and  only  as  they  are  ac- 
cepted for  facts  is  a  Christian  theology  possible. 
That  was  true  in  the  first  century,  it  is  just  as  true 
in  the  nineteenth. 

The  difference,  then,  between  the  theologians  of 
the  Alexandrian  Church  and  the  heretical  teachers 
who  claimed  after  a  sort  the  Christian  name,  was 
that  the  theologians  followed  what  Clement  and 
Origen  call  "  the  ecclesiastical  rule; "  while  the  here- 
tics interpreted  or  mutilated  Holy  Scripture  and 
the  Christian  faith  according  to  notions  and  opin- 
ions current  in  the  outside  world.  Now,  the  first 
evidence  we  have  of  literary  or  intellectual  activity 
in  the  Alexandrian  Church  comes  to  us  in  connec- 
tion with  the  appearance  of  heretical  teachers ;  and 
this  explains  what  is  perhaps  the  earliest  contem- 
porary notice  of  that  Church  now  extant — a  notice 
which,  unless  this  circumstance  is  attended  to, 
would  convey  a  very  unfavorable  impression.  For 
half  or  three-quarters  of  a  century  after  its  founda- 
tion, the  Church  in  Alexandria  pursued  the  even 
tenor  of  its  way,  leaving  few  or  no  written  memor- 
ials to  attest  its  works  of  faith,  of  piety,  and  charity. 
And  yet  by  the  reign  of  Hadrian  (a.d.  i  17-138)  it 
had  become  so  important  that  that  versatile,  super- 
ficial, and  inquisitive  Emperor,  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend,  the  Consul  Servianus,  thus  describes  the 
state  of  public  opinion  as  he  found  it  in  Alexan- 
dria :  "  I  have  become,"  he  says,  "  perfectly  familiar 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  \2J 

with  Egypt,  which  you  praised  to  me.  It  is  fickle, 
uncertain,  blown  about  by  every  gust  of  rumor. 
Those  who  worship  Serapis  are  Christians,  and  those 
are  devoted  to  Serapis  who  call  themselves  bishops 
of  Christ.  There  is  no  ruler  of  a  synagogue  there, 
no  Samaritan,  no  Christian  presbyter,  who  is  not  an 
astrologer,  a  sooth-sayer,  a  quack.  The  patriarch 
himself  [i.e.,  the  Jewish  patriarch,  for  there  were  no 
Christian  patriarchs  at  this  time],  whenever  he 
comes  to  Egypt,  is  compelled  by  some  to  worship 
Serapis,  by  others  to  worship  Christ."  Now,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that,  as  a  notice  of  the  real  Church  in 
Alexandria,  this  is  not  true  or  near  the  truth,  and 
that  Hadrian  had  little  or  no  acquaintance  with 
that  Church.  As  a  satirical  comment  upon  the 
state  of  public  opinion,  and  a  witness  to  the  syn- 
cretistic  spirit  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Gnostic  heresies  of  Alexandria,  it  has  its  value. 
But  it  shows  incidentally  how  great  had  been  the 
progress  of  the  Church,  even  at  this  early  period, 
thus  to  infuse  into  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  city 
an  interest  in  Christianity.  This  letter  of  Hadrian 
is  illustrated  by  one  or  two  quotations  from  Clem- 
ent and  Origen,  which  I  wish  to  read  to  you. 
Clement  is  prosecuting  the  argument  that  the  true 
doctrine  is  that  which  has  been  preserved  in  the 
Church  from  the  beginning,  and  that  the  "  human 
assemblies"  which  the  heretics  called  together  were 
posterior  to  the  Catholic  Church.  "  For  the  teach- 
ing of  our  Lord  at  His  advent,"  he  says,  "  beginning 


128  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

with  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  was  completed  in  the 
middle  of  the  time  of  Tiberius.  And  that  of  the 
Apostles,  including  the  ministry  of  Paul,  ends  with 
Nero.  It  was  later,  in  the  times  of  Hadrian  the 
King,  that  those  who  invented  the  heresies  arose ; 
and  they  continued  to  the  times  of  Antoninus."  ' 
Now,  Origen  makes  the  acute  remark  "  that  heresies 
of  different  kinds  have  never  originated  from  any 
matter  in  which  the  principle  involved  was  not  im- 
portant and  beneficial  to  human  life."  He  is  an- 
swering the  objection  of  Celsus,  that  Christianity  is 
unworthy  of  attention  because  "  the  Christians  were 
divided  and  split  up  into  factions,  each  individual 
desiring  to  have  his  own  party."  Origen  replies 
with  the  remark  just  quoted,  that  Christianity  is 
for  that  very  reason  worth  attending  to,  because 
heresies  do  not  arise  in  a  matter  of  no  interest  or 
importance.  He  instances  the  various  schools  of 
medicine  and  philosophy,  and  proceeds  :  "  So,  then, 
seeing  Christianity  appeared  an  object  of  veneration, 
not  to  the  servile  class  only,  as  Celsus  supposes,  but 
to  many  among  the  Greeks  who  were  devoted  to 
literary  pursuits,  there  necessarily  originated  here- 
sies, not  as  the  result  of  faction  and  strife,  but 
through  the  earnest  desire  of  many  literary  men  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity." a  This  was  natural  in  an  age  of  inquiry,  and 
in  an  eclectic  city  like  Alexandria,  where  knowledge 
was  encyclopaedic  in  its  range,  and  endeavored  to  in- 
1  Stromata  VII.,  17.         s  Origen  against  Celsus,  III.,  13. 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 29 

elude  all  opinions.  It  explains,  as  I  said,  Hadrian's 
satire,  not  upon  Christianity,  but  upon  Alexandria. 
If  you  reflect,  you  will  see  that  just  such  "literary 
men  "  were  the  ones  who  were  likely  to  fall  into 
Hadrian's  way,  and  from  whom  he  would  form  his 
opinion  of  the  Alexandrians.  But  you  will  see  also 
that  Christianity  must  have  made  great  progress  in 
Alexandria,  to  have  impressed  so  many  literary  men 
with  a  desire  to  appropriate  from  it  in  making  up 
their  systems,  just  as  soon  as  tolerant  emperors,  as 
Trajan  and  Hadrian  were,  began  to  discourage 
wholesale  persecution. 

The  heretics  of  this  period  are  those  known  as 
Gnostics.  They  have  been  brought  before  you  in  the 
Lecture  on  the  School  of  Antioch  ;  and  I  shall  only 
remark  that,  while  the  philosophical  basis  of  the 
Syrian  Gnosticism  was  dualism,  that  of  the  Alex- 
andrian was  pantheism  ;  and  that  under  this  guid- 
ing principle  the  Alexandrian  Gnostic  endeavored 
to  form,  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  city,  a 
comprehensive  system  which  would  explain  and 
justify  all  the  various  religions  and  philosophies  of 
the  ancient  world,  and  combine  them  in  a  harmonious 
whole.  Now,  no  one  could  do  that  with  Christian- 
ity, without  finding  it  necessary  to  falsify  the  record, 
to  explain  away  the  facts,  to  say  in  effect :  We  under- 
stand this  better  than  the  writers  of  the  Gospel, 
and  the  teachers  of  the  Church  ;  we  are  able  to 
penetrate  below  the  surface  ;  we  have  insight  to  see 
the  truth  underlying  their  statements ;  we  can  cor- 
9 


I30  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

rect  their  mistakes.  That  is  why  these  speculators 
are  called  heretics,  rather  than  philosophers.  A 
philosopher  who  simply  left  Christianity  out  of  his 
system  was  not  a  heretic,  he  was  a  heathen  ;  a  phil- 
osopher who  took  a  mutilated  or  falsified  version  of 
the  facts  of  the  Gospel  into  his  system  was  a  heretic, 
because  he  depraved  the  faith. 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  the 
Gnostic  heresiarchs  were  not  profound  thinkers,  or 
earnest  men  ;  and  yet  it  is  true,  as  Professor  Salmon 
says,  that  "  the  zeal  with  which  a  learner  commences 
the  study  of  ecclesiastical  history  is  not  infrequently 
damped  at  an  early  stage,  when  he  finds  that,  in  order 
to  know  the  history  of  religious  thought  in  the 
second  century,  he  must  make  himself  acquainted 
with  speculations  so  wild  and  so  baseless  that  it  is 
irksome  to  read  them,  and  difficult  to  believe  that 
time  was,  when  acquaintance  with  them  was  counted 
as  what  alone  deserved  the  name  of  'knowledge.'" 
The  conclusion  which  he  draws  from  this  is  valuable 
for  some  among  us  at  the  present  day.  "  Every 
union  of  philosophy  and  religion  is  the  marriage  of  a 
mortal  with  an  immortal  ;  the  religion  lives ;  the 
philosophy  grows  old  and  dies.  When  the  phil- 
osophic element  of  a  theological  system  becomes 
antiquated,  its  explanations,  which  contented  one 
age,  become  unsatisfactory  to  the  next,  and  there 
ensues  what  is  spoken  of  as  a  conflict  between  reli- 
gion and  science  ;  whereas  it  is  in  reality  a  conflict 
between  the  science  of  one  generation  and  that  of  a 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  131 

preceding  one."  Reflection  upon  this  truth  is  much 
to  be  commended  to  some  of  our  philosophic  theol- 
ogians. So  long  as  theology  is  true  to  its  own 
tradition  as  realized  in  the  Catholic  creeds,  it  is  like 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  it  witnesses,  "  the 
same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever."  Certainly 
this  is  the  lesson  taught  by  the  mistakes,  not  only 
of  the  Gnostic  heretics  of  Alexandria,  but  of  the 
great  philosophic  theologian  of  its  Catholic  School, 
the  saintly  but  unsainted  Origen. 

We  cannot  understand  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
without  some  knowledge  of  Basilides  and  Valen- 
tinus,  the  heads  of  two  opposite  schools  of  Alexan- 
drian Gnostics.  The  moral  principles  of  Basilides 
were  ascetic,  those  of  Valentinus  antinomian.  I  shall 
not  attempt  to  explain  their  systems,  but  shall  con- 
tent myself  with  a  single  observation  upon  each. 
The  aim  of  all  the  Gnostic  systems  was,  like  that 
of  Philo,  to  bridge  over  the  distance  between  the 
absolute,  unconditioned,  infinite  God,  and  the  finite 
and  conditioned  universe.  Basilides  held  the  su- 
preme Being  to  be  so  absolute  and  so  uncondi- 
tioned that  he  could  not  predicate  anything  whatso- 
ever of  him,  not  even  existence — he  could  not  say 
even  that  He  is.  If  therefore  you  reduce  the  account 
of  his  theology  and  cosmology  given  in  Hippolytus  ' 
to  its  simplest  terms,  it  may  be  stated  thus  :  That 
the  primeval  Nothing' "at  first  produced  Something, 
and  that  from  that  Something  grew  Everything. 
1  Hippolytus  :  Refutation  of  all  Heresies,  VII.,  9  sq. 


132  THE    SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

"  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,''  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  a  more  complete,  condensed,  and 
comprehensive  statement  of  the  modern  doctrine  of 
evolution  than  this.  The  system  of  Valentinus  was 
the  extreme  illustration  of  the  position  "  whatever 
is,  is  right ; "  and  for  that  reason  moral  progress  was 
impossible  under  it.  Perverting  S.  Paul,  Valentinus 
held  that  mankind  were  of  three  different  natures, 
and  that  their  conduct  was  the  result  of  their  or- 
ganization, and  therefore  involved  no  moral  re- 
sponsibility. You  remember  that  S.  Paul,  at  the 
close  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  says : 
"  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body 
be  preserved  blameless  ; "  and  that  in  different  places 
he  speaks  of  the  "carnal  "  man,  the  "natural  " — or, 
to  turn  the  Greek  word  into  English,  the  "  psychical" 
man,  and  the  "  spiritual  n  man.  Valentinus  there- 
fore thought  that  some  men  were  wholly  material 
or  carnal  in  nature ;  these  were  heathens  worship- 
ping material  deities  or  idols,  because  they  could  not 
be  anything  else ;  they  were  sensualists  in  morals, 
because  they  had  no  higher  moral  power.  Other 
men  had  a  body  and  soul;  these  were  the  "natural" 
or  "  psychical "  men  of  S.  Paul ;  they  were  Jews 
and  ordinary  Christians;  they  worshipped  the 
Creator  and  observed  his  law,  which  was  contained 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  after  this  life  would  go 
to  a  soul-heaven.  But  then,  this  Creator  whom 
they  worshipped  was  not  the  Supreme  God  ;  there 
was   above  him   a   spiritual    God,   and   a  spiritual 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  133 

heaven,  reserved  for  the  spiritual  men,  that  is,  the 
Gnostics,  who  being  "  spiritual,"  were  not  under  the 
law,  being  made  perfect  by  knowledge. 

You  will  ask  how  such  a  doctrine  could  be  counted 
sufficiently  Christian  to  be  called  heretical.  And 
yet,  if  you  had  the  original  documents  you  would 
be  astonished  to  find  how  much  Scripture  they 
could  pervert  to  favor  their  dogmas;  and  you 
would  see  the  value  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  as 
the  interpreter  of  Scripture.  The  Valentinians  were 
heretics  because  they  depraved  the  faith  in  Christ 
to  accommodate  it  to  these  ideas.  According  to 
them,  Jesus  or  Saviour  was  one  person,  Christ  was 
another.  Jesus  was  a  spiritual  emanation  from  the 
region  of  the  Supreme  ;  Christ  was  a  psychical  creat- 
ure from  the  region  of  the  Creator.  Christ  lived 
upon  earth  thirty  years  in  the  practice  of  virtue  ac- 
cording to  the  law,  and  then  at  his  baptism,  Jesus 
or  Saviour  came  down  upon  him,  and  he  became 
Jesus  Christ.  As  this  twofold  being,  it  was  his 
mission  to  enlighten  the  "spiritual"  men  with 
the  true  gnosis  which  made  them  Gnostics,  and  so 
to  prepare  them  for  the  spiritual  heaven.  Having 
accomplished  this  by  his  teachings,  the  Saviour  for- 
sook Christ,  and  Christ  alone  then  wrought  the  re- 
demption for  "  psychic  "  natures  by  suffering  upon 
the  cross.  As  there  is  no  redemption  for  material 
or  "carnal"  natures,  they  simply  perish,  and  the 
material  world  will  be  annihilated  in  the  fire  which 
shall  be  at  the  last  day. 


134  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

If  you  have  condescended  to  follow  me  thus  far, 
you  see  some  of  the  problems  which  were  to  be 
solved  by  the  Catholic  theologians  of  the  School  of 
Alexandria.  They  were,  first  of  all,  to  uphold  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  the  integrity  of  the  Gospel, 
and  the  truths  and  facts  of  the  faith  as  handed  down 
from  the  beginning.  They  were  to  present  to  the 
thinkers  of  the  great  city  a  theology  of  the  Creed 
and  the  Scriptures  which  should  not  only  refute 
Gnosticism  and  heathen  philosophy,  but  which 
should  draw  to  itself  the  philosophic  mind  by  true 
explanations  of  the  relation  of  the  Creator  to  the 
creation,  and  of  the  Saviour  to  the  souls  He  came 
to  save.  They  must  present  also  a  philosophy  of 
human  life  and  conduct  which  should  show  every 
man  to  be  saveable,  which  should  invite  every  man 
to  faith,  and  which  should  lead  the  disciple  onward 
to  that  true  gnosis  which  is  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  of  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  They 
must,  in  a  word,  not  only  release  philosophy  from 
Gnostic  speculations,  but  lead  it  captive  to  the  obe- 
dience of  Christ. 

In  Clement  and  Origen,  the  Alexandrian  Church 
found  teachers  competent  for  the  work  before  them. 
They  were  successively  heads  of  the  Catechetical 
School  of  Alexandria,  which  under  them  became  a 
renowned  centre  of  Christian  learning.  I  want  you 
to  understand  what  this  Catechetical  School  was, 
as  its  peculiar  character  has  much  to  do  with  our 
properly   understanding   Clement.     It    was   not   a 


THE  SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 35 

theological  seminary,  as  we  understand  the  term. 
It  was  not  a  school  for  training  clergy  in  the  knowl- 
edge, theoretical  or  practical,  appertaining  to  their 
profession.  It  was  primarily  the  school  for  the 
Catechumens — that  is,  for  those  who  were  investi- 
gating or  being  instructed  in  Christian  doctrine  pre- 
paratory to  their  baptism.  Originally  it  was  not  a 
school  for  the  members  of  the  Church  at  all,  but  for 
those  who  were  seeking  admission  to  the  Church. 
It  was  a  school  after  the  manner  of  the  philosophical 
schools  which  were  so  numerous  in  Alexandria — a 
school,  not  for  boys,  but  for  grown-up  men  and 
women,  held  in  the  house  of  the  teacher,  and  free 
to  all  who  chose  to  attend.  As  Christianity  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  educated  class,  men 
who  were  graduates  of  other  schools,  or  even  mas- 
ters in  them,  might  be  scholars  in  this.  It  was  im- 
perative, therefore,  that  the  teacher  be  a  man  of  in- 
tellect and  learning,  well  versed  in  the  science  and 
philosophy  of  the  age,  and  able  to  cope  with  the 
bright  minds  among  his  hearers.  Such  men  were 
Pantsenus,  Clement,  and  Origen.  They  gave  the 
Catechetical  School  a  high  intellectual  character, 
discussed  philosophy  in  its  relation  to  Christianity, 
and  solved  the  difficulties  and  confirmed  the  faith 
of  the  cultured  catechumen.  The  curriculum  in 
certain  directions  was  perhaps  in  advance  of  what 
that  of  a  professional  school  intended  exclusively 
for  the  clergy  would  have  been.  I  say  in  certain 
directions;   but  there  was  one  limitation  imposed 


13^  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

upon  it,  by  its  nature  as  a  Catechetical  School,  which 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  studying  the  works 
that  emanated  from  it.  The  times  of  which  I  am 
speaking  were  times  when  the  Christians  were  ex- 
posed to  persecution,  and  therefore  when  it  was 
necessary  for  the  Church  to  guard  its  assemblies 
from  intrusion,  and  its  mysteries  from  profanation. 
It  was  therefore,  of  necessity,  organized  in  some  sort 
as  a  secret  society  whose  pass-words,  as  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  the  Creed,  whose  sacraments  and  peculiar 
usages,  and  the  doctrines  of  grace  they  implied,  were 
not  formally  explained  or  taught  to  the  believer 
until  his  constancy  had  been  tested,  and  he  had 
been  actually  initiated  by  baptism.  In  the  Cate- 
chetical School,  therefore,  it  being  a  school  for  the 
uninitiated,  these  matters  were  carefully  and  enig- 
matically alluded  to,  in  language  which  would  be 
understood  only  by  those  who  were  in  full  com- 
munion with  the  Church.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
what  is  meant  by  the  disciplina  arcatti,  or  "  disci- 
pline of  the  secret,"  of  which  we  read  in  this  period 
of  Church  history. 

Now,  it  is  from  not  attending  to  this  that  a  wrong 
impression  prevails  concerning  the  teachings  of 
Clement  of  Alexandria.  It  is  supposed  by  some 
that  he  deals  with  the  subjects  before  him  as  a  philo- 
sophic theologian,  with  no  Church  tradition  behind 
him  ;  whereas  he  really  deals  with  them  as  a  Cate- 
chist,  and  as  an  author  whose  writings  were  intended 
for  those  who  were  not  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  for 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  137 

those  who  were.  In  the  first  chapter  of  the  Stromata 
Clement  declares  his  method.  His  instructors,  he 
says,  preserving  the  tradition  of  the  blessed  doctrine 
from  the  holy  Apostles  Peter  and  James,  and  John 
and  Paul,  transmitted  it  to  him.  He  stores  up  his 
memoranda,  therefore,  as  an  outline  of  the  vigorous 
discourses  he  was  privileged  to  hear,  and  as  a  me- 
morial of  blessed  and  remarkable  men.  But  in  do- 
ing so  he  observes  a  wise  caution.  "  The  mysteries," 
he  says,  "  are  delivered  mystically,  that  what  is 
spoken  may  be  in  the  mouth  of  the  speaker ;  rather 
not  in  his  voice,  but  in  his  meaning."  "  Some  things 
I  purposely  omit  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  selection, 
.  .  .  some  things  my  treatise  will  hint ;  on  some 
it  will  linger  ;  some  it  will  merely  mention.  .  .  . 
The  dogmas  taught  by  remarkable  sects  will  be  ad- 
duced, and  to  these  will  be  opposed  what  ought  to 
be  said.  .  .  so  that  we  may  have  our  ears  ready 
for  the  reception  of  the  tradition  of  true  knowledge, 
the  soil  being  cleared  of  thorns  and  weeds  in  order 
to  the  planting  of  the  true  vine." 

And  so  it  is  that,  as  the  very  last  thing  in  the  ex- 
tant portion  of  the  Stromata  (for  it  is  incomplete, 
and  was  never  finished),  Clement  shows  that  all  his 
labor  has  been  to  lead  the  thinking  reader  to  the 
Church.  Immediately  following  the  passage  which 
I  quoted  concerning  the  antiquity  of  the  Church 
doctrine  and  the  lateness  of  the  heresies,  Clement 
says  :  "  The  true  Church,  that  which  is  really  ancient, 
is  one,  and  in  it  are  enrolled  those  who,  according  to 


138  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

m 

God's  purpose,  are  just.  For  because  God  is  one, 
and  the  Lord  one,  that  which  is  most  honorable  is 
lauded  for  its  singleness,  being  an  imitation  of  the 
One.  In  the  nature  of  the  One,  then,  is  associated 
in  joint  heritage  the  One  Church,  which  the  heretics 
strive  to  cut  asunder  into  many  sects.  .  .  .  The 
pre-eminence  of  the  Church,  as  the  principle  of 
union,  is  in  its  oneness,  in  this  surpassing  all  things 
else,  and  having  nothing  like  or  equal  to  itself." 

This  is  from  that  which  is  almost  the  concluding 
paragraph  of  Clement's  great  work — his  Trilogy,  I 
might  call  it,  for  it  includes  three  separate  yet  con- 
nected treatises  from  which  his  teaching  is  to  be 
gathered.  They  are,  The  Exhortation  to  the  Greeks  ; 
the  Instructor,  so-called  ;  and  the  Stromateis,  a  word 
meaning  patchwork,  and  translated  "  Miscellanies," 
because  of  its  discursive  character.  Their  object  is, 
I  must  insist,  not  to  present  the  theology  of  the 
Church  in  its  completeness,  but  rather  to  serve  as 
an  introduction  to  theology  proper — to  carry  on 
Clement's  work  as  a  Catechist  by  withdrawing  the 
reflecting  mind  outside  the  Church  from  the  false 
gnosis  of  the  heretics,  and  bringing  it  to  seek  the 
true  gnosis  of  the  Christian  life.  They  show  a  man 
of  immense  reading,  and  could  have  been  written 
nowhere  but  in  the  vicinity  of  a  great  library  like  that 
of  Alexandria. 

In  the  Exhortation  to  the  Greeks,  Clement  pleads 
with  them  to  abandon  the  impious  mysteries  of 
idolatry  for  the  adoration  of  the  Divine  Word  and 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 39 

the  Father  ;  he  exposes  the  absurdity  of  their  myths, 
their  sacrifices,  and  their  images  ;  he  shows  that  by 
Divine  help,  some  of  their  philosophers  and  poets 
caught  glimpses  of  the  truth  ;  he  answers  the  objec- 
tion that  it  is  not  right  to  abandon  the  customs  of 
their  fathers  ;  and  shows  how  great  are  the  benefits 
conferred  on  man  through  the  coming  of  Christ. 
His  object  in  this  book  is  to  invite  to  faith  and  bap- 
tism, and  the  way  in  which  he  speaks  of  baptism  in 
this  treatise  may  illustrate  what  I  have  said  of  his 
method  of  allusion  to  the  Sacraments.  In  the 
chapter  on  forsaking  the  customs  of  their  fathers,  he 
says :  "  Receive  then  the  water  of  the  Word ;  wash, 
ye  polluted  ones ;  purify  yourself  from  custom  by 
sprinkling  yourselves  with  the  drops  of  truth."  In 
what  way,  he  asks  in  another  place,  is  a  stranger  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ?  and  an- 
swers, "  When  he  is  enrolled  and  made  a  citizen, 
and  receives  one  to  stand  to  him  in  the  relation  of 
father  [he  alludes,  you  see,  to  the  sponsor  or  god- 
father at  baptism]  ;  then  he  will  be  occupied  with  the 
Father's  concerns ;  then  shall  he  be  deemed  worthy 
to  be  made  his  heir  ;  then  will  he  share  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Father  with  his  own  dear  Son.  For  this  is  the 
Church  of  the  First-born,  composed  of  many  good 
children  ;  these  are  the  first-born  enrolled  in  heaven, 
who  hold  high  festival  with  so  many  myriads  of 
angels."  Again  he  veils  his  meaning  by  an  allusion 
to  the  heathen  mysteries  while  speaking  of  the 
Church  :    "  O  truly  sacred  mysteries  !     O  stainless 


140  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

light !  My  way  is  lighted  with  torches  and  I  survey 
the  heavens  and  God  ;  I  become  holy  while  I  am 
initiated.  The  Lord  is  the  hierophant,  and  seals 
while  illuminating  him  who  is  initiated,  and  presents 
to  the  Father  him  who  believes,  to  be^  kept  safe  for- 
ever. .  .  .  If  it  is  thy  wish,  be  thou  also  initiat- 
ed, and  thou  shalt  join  the  choir  of  angels  around 
the  unbegotten  and  indestructible  and  only  true 
God,  the  Word  of  God  raising  the  hymn  with  us. 
This  Jesus,  who  is  eternal,  the  one  great  High  Priest 
of  the  one  true  God  and  His  Father,  prays  for  and 
exhorts  men." 

In  the  last  two  sentences  we  may  perceive  an  al- 
lusion to  the  Eucharistic  service,  to  the  Trisagion 
Hymn,  and  to  the  Consecration  Prayer,  but  so  as 
not  to  reveal  the  mysteries  to  the  uninitiated. 
The  members  of  the  Church  would  understand; 
the  others  would  not — and  that  was  Clement's 
intention.  In  the  same  veiled  way  he  speaks  in  a 
passage  in  the  Stromata,  when  his  meaning  is  plain 
to  those  who  can  read  between  the  lines :  " '  Taste 
and  see  that  the  Lord  is  Christ,'  it  is  said.  For  so 
He  imparts  of  Himself  to  those  who  partake  of  such 
food  in  a  more  spiritual  manner ;  where  the  soul 
nourishes  itself,  according  to  the  truth-loving  Plato. 
For  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  essence  is  the  meat 
and  drink  of  the  Divine  Word.  Wherefore,  also, 
Plato  says  in  the  second  book  of  the  Republic : — 
<  It  is  those  who  sacrifice,  not  some  cheap  thing, ' 
1  Literally  u  a  pig." 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  I4-I 

but  some  great  and  difficult  sacrifice,'  who  ought  to 
inquire  respecting  God.  And  the  Apostle  writes, 
'  Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us.' — a  sacri- 
fice indeed  hard  to  procure,  even  the  Son  of  God 
consecrated  for  us."  x 

So  again  he  speaks  of  the  ministry  of  the  Church 
in  the  same  allusive  way,  as  in  the  following  pas- 
sage, where  he  is  speaking  of  degrees  of  glory  in 
heaven,  and  saying  that  those  who  attain  the  high- 
est holiness  shall  have  the  chief  seats  in  the  heav- 
enly Kingdom.  "  Those,  then,  who  have  exercised 
themselves  in  the  Lord's  commandments  and  lived 
perfectly  according  to  the  gospel,  may  be  enrolled 
[hereafter]  in  the  chosen  body  of  the  Apostles. 
Such  an  one  is  in  reality  a  presbyter  of  the  Church, 
and  a  true  deacon  of  the  will  of  God,  if  he  do  and 
teach  what  is  the  Lord's ;  not  as  being  ordained  by 
men,  nor  regarded  righteous  because  a  presbyter, 
but  enrolled  in  the  presbyterate  because  righteous. 
And  although  here  on  earth  he  be  not  honored 
with  the  chief  seat  [i.e.,  the  seat  of  the  bishop],  he 
will  [there]  sit  down  on  the  four  and  twenty  thrones, 
judging  the  people  as  John  says  in  the  Apocalypse. 
.  .  .  For,  according  to  my  opinion,  the  grades 
here  in  the  Church  of  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons, 
are  imitations  of  the  angelic  glory,  and  of  that  econ- 
omy which  the  Scriptures  say  awaits  those  who,  fol- 
lowing the  footsteps  of  the  Apostles,  have  lived  in 
perfection  of  righteousness  according  to  the  Gospel."2 
1  Stromata,  V.,  10.  aIb.,  VI.,  13. 


142  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

You  see  clearly  from  these  extracts  what  Cle- 
ment's method  was  in  dealing,  in  these  works,  with 
those  matters  of  Church  polity  and  sacramental 
grace  which,  in  an  age  of  contradiction  and  persecu- 
tion, were  not  for  prudential  reasons  spoken  of 
openly  to  the  outside  world  ;  and  you  see  also  that, 
so  understood,  his  testimony  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  other  Fathers,  to  the  ministry  and  worship  of 
the  Church.  To  return  to  our  analysis  of  his  writ- 
ings :  The  second  work,  "  The  Instructor,"  is  prac- 
tical. The  English  word  used  for  the  title  of  the 
translation  does  not  accurately  express  the  Greek. 
Clement  calls  it  the  7rcuSay(oyo<;,  from  which  we  have 
the  two  words  page  and  pedagogue.  The  Greek 
iraiSaywyo?  was  not  the  schoolmaster  or  instructor ; 
but  the  attendant,  governor,  or  page  who  led  the 
young  child  to  the  schoolmaster,  and  who  had  the 
supervision,  not  of  his  education,  but  of  his  conduct 
and  manners.  In  this  book,  then,  Clement  repre- 
sents Christ  as  the  "  Page  "  of  the  Christian  after 
baptism,  forming  his  manners  according  to  the  Gos- 
pel. His  object  in  this  treatise  is  to  speak  to  the 
outside  world,  as  well  as  to  the  children  of  the 
Church ;  and  so,  observing  the  same  reserve  as  be- 
fore, he  deals  with  the  external  behavior  of  Chris- 
tians in  their  intercourse  with  the  world.  It  is  in 
fact  a  treatise  upon  manners  and  morals,  rather  than 
on  ethics;  and  it  leads  to  the  ethical  science  of  the 
Stromata.  "Our  superintendence  in  instruction 
and  discipline,"  he  says,  "  is  the  object  of  the  Word, 


THE  SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  143 

from  whom  we  learn  frugality,  humility,  and  all 
that  pertains  to  love  of  truth,  love  of  man,  and  love 
of  excellence.  In  the  case  of  those  who  are  trained 
by  this  influence,  even  their  gait  in  walking,  their 
sitting  at  table,  their  food,  their  sleep,  their  going  to 
bed,  their  regimen,  and  their  mode  of  life,  acquire  a 
superior  dignity.  Not  only  is  it  requisite  to  contem- 
plate the  Divine,  we  must  also  contemplate  human 
nature,  to  live  as  the  truth  directs,  and  to  admire 
the  instructor  and  his  injunctions;  according  to 
whose  image,  conforming  ourselves  to  Him,  and 
making  the  word  and  our  deeds  agree,  we  ought  to 
live  a  real  life.'' 

Having  thus  shown  the  outside  world  how  Chris- 
tianity forms  the  manners  and  earthly  life  of  the 
Christian,  Clement  proceeds  in  the  Stromata  to 
show  how  it  makes  him  a  true  Gnostic.  To  the 
mere  reader  the  Stromata  must  be  very  tiresome, 
while  to  the  student  it  is  the  most  interesting  of 
Clement's  works.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  had  a 
threefold  object  in  writing  it :  the  first  was  to  allure 
the  higher  intellect  of  the  Greeks  to  Christianity ; 
the  second,  to  lay  down  a  true  philosophy  of  human 
nature,  in  opposition  to  the  speculations  of  Basilides, 
Valentinus,  and  other  false  Gnostics ;  and  the 
third,  to  stimulate  the  Christian  disciple  to  a  wider 
culture  and  a  sympathetic  interest  in  the  intellec- 
tual world  around  him.  It  is  evident,  from  the 
way  in  which  the  Stromata  begins,  that  it  was  a 
question  with  some  whether  he  ought  to  write  at 


144  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA, 

all ;  and  he  has  several  times  to  allude  to  the  nar- 
rowness of  certain  among  the  brethren. 

This  explains  Clement's  attitude  with  regard  to 
philosophy.  He  knew  very  well  that  persons  are 
brought  together  by  understanding  one  another ; 
and  therefore  it  was  for  his  interest  as  a  catechist, 
as  well  as  from  his  conviction  as  a  scholar,  that  he 
asserted  philosophy  to  be  a  divine  gift  to  the 
Greeks,  and  a  preparation  of  the  Gentile  world  for 
Christianity.  Clement  did  not  do  what  Origen  did 
to  his  hurt,  accept  philosophy  as  supplementary  to 
revelation  and  the  tradition  of  the  Church  ;  he  did 
not  compound  a  doctrine  partly  philosophical  and 
partly  religious ;  what  he  did  was  to  show  that 
Christianity  had  the  criterion  by  which  to  judge  of 
philosophy,  and  the  means  of  bringing  it  to  perfec- 
tion ;  and  therefore  that  the  philosopher,  having 
been  brought  so  far  on  his  way  by  philosophy, 
needed  Christianity  for  his  completion.  "At  one 
time,"  he  says,  "philosophy  justified  the  Greeks — 
not  conducting  them  to  perfect  righteousness,  but 
as  the  first  and  second  flights  of  steps  help  you  in 
your  ascent  to  the  upper  room,  and  as  the  gram- 
marian helps  the  philosopher.  But  the  teaching 
which  is  in  Christ  is  complete  in  itself  and  without 
defect,  being  the  '  power  and  wisdom  of  God,'  and 
the  Hellenic  philosophy  does  not  by  its  approach 
make  the  truth  more  powerful."  And  here  a  re- 
mark is  necessary  as  to  Clement's  idea  of  philosophy. 
"  By  philosophy,"    he  says,   "  I  do  not  mean  the 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 45 

Stoic,  or  the  Platonic,  or  the  Epicurean,  or  the 
Aristotelian  ;  but  whatever  has  been  well  said  by 
any  of  those  sects  which  teach  righteousness  along 
with  a  science  pervaded  by  piety — this  eclectic 
whole  I  call  philosophy."  '  Now,  it  has  been  well 
said  that  in  the  region  of  pure  philosophy  an  eclec- 
tic system  is  an  impossibility.  For  how  is  one  to 
choose  out  from  the  various  systems  that  which  is  fit 
and  right  and  true,  unless  one  has  beforehand  a  cri- 
terion of  truth,  that  is,  a  system  of  his  own  ?  But 
the  previous  system,  according  to  which  one  is  to 
judge  and  to  select,  is  the  real  philosophy,  and  its  pre- 
existence  negatives  eclecticism.  In  the  region  of 
pure  philosophy  this  is  a  valid  objection  ;  but  it  does 
not  touch  Clement,  because  in  the  Christian  faith  he 
had  a  criterion  of  judgment,  and  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal rule  and  tradition  of  which  he  has  so  much  to 
say,  and  the  importance  of  which  I  pointed  out  at 
the  beginning  of  this  lecture. 

The  position,  which  is  undoubtedly  a  true  one, 
that  philosophy  was  a  gift  to  the  Greeks  from  the 
Divine  Word,  the  Eternal  Son,  who  became  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us  ;  who,  as  He  gave  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets  to  the  Jews,  left  Himself  not  without 
witness  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  was  of  im- 
mense use  to  Clement  in  that  it  furnished  the  basis 
for  the  complete  refutation  of  the  Gnostic  heresies 
of  all  kinds.  For  if  the  Divine  Logos  had  thus 
secretly  prompted  the  Greeks  to  search  for  truth 

'Stromata,  I.,  7. 
10 


146  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

and  to  prepare  for  His  coming,  it  was  because  they 
and  all  mankind,  as  well  as  all  things  visible  and  in- 
visible, were  the  creatures,  not  of  a  subordinate 
Creator,  but  of  the  infinite  and  supreme  Father,  by 
the  Son,  through  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  so  the 
whole  Gnostic  Pleroma,  with  its  Eons,  its  Demiurge, 
and  its  distinction  of  spiritual  and  psychic  heavens, 
was  swept  away  at  once.  So  surely  does  the  state- 
ment of  the  truth  bring  to  nought  the  ignorance  of 
foolish  men.  It  vindicated  also  the  unity  of  human 
nature,  and  the  spiritual  capacity  of  all  men  for  the 
truth  as  revealed  in  Christ.  Men  are  not  of  differ- 
ent natures,  some  material,  some  psychic,  and  some 
spiritual.  The  carnal  or  natural  man,  in  S.  Paul's 
phrase,  is  the  man  who  rejects  the  spiritual  wisdom 
of  the  Word  ;  the  spiritual  man  is  he  who  follows 
it.  So  it  put  upon  its  true  ground  the  distinction 
between  faith  and  knowledge,  and  their  mutual  de- 
pendence. The  Gnostics  held  that  sense  was  the 
material  intellect ;  that  faith  was  the  relation  be- 
tween the  psychic  soul  and  the  Demiurge,  or  finite 
creator ;  and  that  knowledge  was  the  spiritual  illu- 
mination of  the  Gnostic,  lifting  him  up  to  the  ab- 
solute and  unconditioned  Supreme  Being.  Clem- 
ent spends  much  time  in  demonstrating  that  faith 
is  not  the  attribute  of  a  particular  nature,  but  an  act 
of  the  soul  reaching  out  to  God  and  accepting  the 
revelation  of  Christ ;  that  knowledge  is  not  the  at- 
tribute of  another  nature,  but  that  it  is  the  passing 
of  faith  into  certainty ;  and  therefore,  that  faith  is 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  147 

the  foundation  of  all  true  knowledge.  So  again, 
matter  is  not  evil,  and  the  body  is  not  evil ;  and 
therefore,  the  true  Gnostic  does  not  despise  the 
body,  but  keeps  it  in  subjection ;  he  neither  prac- 
tises a  degrading  asceticism,  nor  indulges  in  corrupt 
living ;  he  is  willing  to  be  a  martyr  for  the  truth, 
but  is  not  needlessly  to  expose  himself;  he  lives  in 
that  communion  with  God  which  makes  him  con- 
tent, whether  present  in  the  body,  or  absent  with 
the  Lord. 

The  work  of  Clement  against  the  false  Gnosti- 
cism was  successful.  From  his  time  it  declined  in 
importance,  and  its  place  in  opposition  to  Christian- 
ity was  taken  by  Neo-Platonism.  My  time  does 
not  permit  any  examination  of  the  Neo-Platonic 
system,  and  I  shall  make  but  one  observation  upon 
it.  The  need  that  the  soul  feels  of  times  of  con- 
scious communion  with  God,  closer  than  that  sense 
of  constant  dependence  on  Divine  Providence  which 
is  the  habit  of  the  believing  mind,  is  realized  in  the 
Church  in  prayer,  in  worship,  and  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. Over  against  this,  in  all  the  non-Christian 
or  uncatholic  systems  which  have  felt  the  need, 
there  has  been  the  attempt  to  realize  it  in  the  state 
of  ecstasy  or  enthusiasm — using  the  word  in  the 
philosophical  sense.  This  was  the  great  practical 
opposition  between  Neo-Platonism  and  Christianity. 
In  the  approach  to  God  through  Christ,  Christian- 
ity is  sacramental  ;  in  the  approach  to  its  philo- 
sophical deity,  Neo-Platonism  was  extatic,  enthusi- 


1 43  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

astic,  and  theurgic.  That  was  why  Philo's  doctrine 
of  faith  and  the  Logos,  adopted  by  Ammonius  Sac- 
cas  as  a  substitute  for  the  Christian,  did  not  help 
Neo-Platonism  to  the  truth.  You  remember  the 
vivid  picture,  in  Charles  Kingsley's  novel,  of  Hypa- 
tia's  attempt  to  attain  the  intuition  of  Deity  ac- 
cording to  the  Neo-Platonic  formula,  by  the  utter 
cessation  of  all  conscious  thought  and  the  absorption 
of  the  soul  for  the  instant  into  the  Divinity ;  and  you 
remember  what,  according  to  Kingsley,  was  its  out- 
come. The  representation  is  correct.  From  that 
quietistic  phase,  through  all  degrees,  to  the  orgiastic 
phrenzy  of  the  worshippers  of  Dionysus  and  Cybele 
on  the  one  side,  and  to  the  hysteria  of  the  revivalist, 
the  trance  of  the  "  medium,"  or  the  stance  of  the 
spirit-rapper  on  the  other,  this  idea  has  run  its  course; 
it  has  been  the  bond  of  union  between  false  systems 
in  every  age;  and  large  volumes  might  be  written 
upon  its  various  developments.  Ancient  Christian- 
ity always  insisted  that  the  true  doctrine  of  Divine 
Communion  and  of  Inspiration  was  differenced 
from  the  false,  by  the  fact  that  a  true  inspiration 
and  a  true  communion  were  acts  of  the  conscious 
being;  whereas  the  false  inspiration  was  always 
marked  by  the  endeavor  to  attain  it  through  a  state 
of  excitement  or  quietism,  terminating  in  uncon- 
sciousness— that  is  to  say,  by  the  trance  of  the  me- 
dium, or  the  hysterics  of  the  revival.  The  theology 
of  the  sacraments  is  the  corrective  of  this  aberration. 
Through  the  Church  system,  of  which  they  are  the 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  149 

centre,  we  enjoy  the  communion  with  God  in  Christ 
under  the  conditions  of  faith,  worship,  obedience, 
and  sacramental  participation,  which  appertain  to 
the  calling  of  the  Christian  from  darkness  to  light, 
from  error  to  truth,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God. 

When  we  turn  from  Clement  of  Alexandria  to 
the  study  of  the  works  of  Origen,  the  first  thing 
that  strikes  us  is  the  strong  common  sense  of  the 
man,  and  with  that,  the  vast  reach  of  his  mind,  and 
the  directness  and  force  of  his  intellectual  processes. 
Of  his  history  and  labors,  the  time  at  my  command 
will  not  permit  me  to  speak ;  and  when  I  tell  you 
that  the  article  on  Origen,  in  the  lately  published 
"  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography,"  extends  to 
forty-eight  large  and  closely  printed  pages,  besides 
fourteen  pages  on  the  controversy  about  his  reputa- 
tion after  his  death  ;  and  that  the  multitude  of  his 
writings  has  been  said  (no  doubt  erroneously)  to  be 
6,000  in  number,  you  will  see  that  it  is  impossible 
to  do  him  justice  in  a  brief  portion  of  one  lecture. 

What  a  teacher  Origen  was  !  Gregory  Thauma- 
turgus,  the  Apostle  of  Armenia,  was  a  pupil  of  his  at 
Caesarea  after  he  had  left  Alexandria.  On  leaving 
school  he  delivered  a  valedictory  address  which  was 
a  panegyric  upon  his  master,  in  which  he  tells  us  of 
his  method.  His  first  care  was  to  make  a  careful 
study  of  the  pupil  himself,  and  to  form  his  mind  by 
a  course  in  logic  and  dialectics.  He  noted  his 
capacity,  his  faults,  his  tendencies,  and  applied  the 


150  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

proper  correctives,  developing  endurance,  firmness, 
patience,  thoroughness.  He  then  led  him  to  the 
"  lofty  and  divine  and  most  lovely  "  study  of  exter- 
nal nature,  or  natural  science,  as  it  was  known  to 
the  ancient  world.  "  He  made  Geometry  the  sure 
and  immovable  foundation,  and  from  this  rose 
step  by  step  to  the  heights  of  heaven  and  the  most 
sublime  mysteries  of  the  universe."  Moral  science 
came  next ;  and  here  he  laid  the  greatest  stress  upon 
the  method  of  experiment.  His  life  was  a  commen- 
tary upon  his  teaching.  His  own  conduct  was  a 
more  influential  persuasive  than  argument,  and  by 
his  example  his  scholars  were  enabled  to  perceive 
that  the  end  of  all  was  "  to  become  like  to  God 
with  a  pure  mind,  and  to  draw  near  to  Him  and 
abide  in  Him."  Then  came  Philosophy.  His 
pupils  were  to  examine  the  writings  of  philosophers 
and  poets  of  every  nation ;  for  them  there  was  to 
be  no  sect,  no  party ;  and  in  their  arduous  work 
they  had  a  friend  ever  at  hand  in  their  master,  who 
knew  their  difficulties  and  could  guide  them  aright. 
So  prepared,  they  were  introduced  to  the  study  of 
Theology.  "  In  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  Origen  found  the  final  and  abso- 
lute spring  of  Divine  Truth."  "  Such,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Westcott,  "  in  meagre  outline  was,  as  Gregory 
tells  us,  the  method  of  Origen.  He  describes  what 
he  knew,  and  what  his  hearers  knew.  There  is  no 
parallel  to  the  picture  in  ancient  times.  And  when 
every  allowance  has  been  made  for  the  partial  en- 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  15 1 

thusiasm  of  a  pupil,  the  view  which  it  offers  of  a 
system  of  Christian  training  actually  realized,  ex- 
hibits a  type  which  we  [with  our  schools  and  uni- 
versities and  theological  seminaries]  cannot  hope  to 
surpass." 

As  a  theologian  and  a  witness  to  Church  teach- 
ing, Origen,  whatever  mistakes  he  fell  into,  and 
however  he  has  been  represented  or  misrepresented 
in  succeeding  ages,  desired  and  intended  to  be  true 
to  the  principle  which  I  have  shown  to  be  at  the 
base  of  the  School  of  Alexandria.  The  traditional 
Creed  of  the  Church  was  his  safeguard,  and  it  is 
only  as  he  overpassed  that,  that  he  is  exposed  to 
censure.  In  the  preface  to  his  Principia  he  says  : 
"  As  we  ceased  to  seek  for  truth  among  those  who 
claimed  it  for  erroneous  opinions,  after  we  had  come 
to  believe  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  were 
persuaded  that  we  must  learn  it  from  himself ;  so, 
seeing  that  there  are  many  who  think  they  hold  the 
truth  in  Christ,  but  differ  from  their  predecessors 
[we  assert],  since  the  teaching  of  the  Church  trans- 
mitted in  orderly  succession  from  the  Apostles  is 
preserved  in  the  Churches  to  the  present  day,  that 
that  alone  is  to  be  accepted  as  truth  which  differs 
in  no  respect  from  ecclesiastical  and  apostolic  tradi- 
tion." He  then  gives  a  summary  of  Christian  doc- 
trine in  the  general  order  of  the  Creed,  as  the  foun- 
dation of  what  he  is  about  to  say. 

Instead  of  endeavoring  to  give  you  an  estimate  of 
Origen  as  a  theologian,  let  me  show  you  the  man 


152  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

himself  by  an  extract  from  his  writings.  Where  in 
all  theology  will  you  find  a  grander  passage  than 
this,  with  which  he  introduces  the  discussion  of  the 
Incarnation  of  our  blessed  Lord  ?  "  But  of  all  the 
mighty  and  marvellous  acts  related  of  Him,  this  al- 
together surpasses  human  admiration,  and  is  beyond 
the  power  of  mortal  frailty  to  understand  or  feel : 
how  that  mighty  power  of  Divine  Majesty,  that 
very  Word  of  the  Father,  that  very  Wisdom  of  God, 
in  whom  were  created  all  things  visible  and  invisible, 
can  be  believed  to  have  existed  within  the  frame  of 
that  man  who  appeared  in  Judea ;  nay,  that  the 
Wisdom  of  God  can  have  entered  the  womb,  and 
have  been  born  an  infant,  and  have  uttered  wailings 
like  the  cries  of  a  little  child  !  And  that  afterward 
it  should  be  said  that  He  was  greatly  troubled,  say- 
ing, '  My  soul  is  sorrowful,  even  unto  death  ; '  and 
that  at  the  last  he  was  brought  to  that  death  which 
is  accounted  the  most  shameful  among  men — though 
He  rose  again  the  third  day.  Since,  then,  we  see  in 
Him  some  things  so  human  that  they  differ  in  no 
respect  from  the  common  frailty  of  mortals,  and 
some  things  so  divine  that  they  can  belong  to 
nothing  else  than  the  primal  and  ineffable  nature  of 
Deity,  the  narrowness  of  human  understanding  can 
find  no  outlet ;  but,  overcome  with  the  amazement 
of  a  mighty  admiration,  it  knows  not  whither  to  re- 
treat, or  what  to  take  hold  of,  or  where  to  turn.  If 
it  think  of  a  God,  it  sees  a  mortal ;  if  it  think  of  a 
man,  it  beholds  him  returning  from  the  grave,  hav- 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 53 

ing  overthrown  the  empire  of  death  and  laden  with 
its  spoils.  And  therefore  the  spectacle  is  to  be  con- 
templated with  all  reverence,  that  the  truth  of  both 
natures  may  be  clearly  shown  to  exist  in  one  and 
the  same  being  ;  so  that  nothing  unworthy  or  unbe- 
coming may  be  thought  in  that  Divine  and  ineffable 
essence ;  nor  yet  those  things  which  were  done  be 
supposed  to  be  illusive  and  imaginary  appearances. 
To  utter  these  things  in  human  ears,  and  to  explain 
them  in  words,  far  surpasses  the  powers  either  of 
our  rank,  or  of  our  intellect  and  language.  I  think 
that  it  surpasses  the  power  even  of  the  holy  Apos- 
tles ;  nay,  the  explanation  of  the  mystery  may  per- 
haps be  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  entire  creation  of 
celestial  powers.  Regarding  Him,  then,  we  shall 
state  in  the  fewest  words  the  contents  of  our  creed, 
rather  than  the  assertions  of  human  reason." ' 

It  was  as  an  expositor  of  Holy  Scripture  that 
Origen  was  most  renowned.  His  labors  upon  the 
text  were  remarkable  for  that  age  ;  he  formed  a  col- 
lection of  the  various  versions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  was  called  the  Hexapla,  because  it  was 
arranged  in  six  parallel  columns ;  he  is  the  first,  or 
nearly  the  first,  writer  of  commentaries;  and  Greg- 
ory tells  us  how  pre-eminent  he  was  as  a  lecturer 
upon  the  Bible.  His  method  has  been  criticised  as 
fanciful  and  dangerous ;  and  yet  it  appears  to  me, 
from  his  explanation  of  it  in  the  Principia,  and 
when  we  compare  it  with  the  allegorism  of  Philo 
1  Origen  :  De  Principiis,  II.  6. 


154  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

and  Clement,  to  be  marked  with  the  strong  com- 
mon sense  which  I  find  in  all  Origen's  writings, 
even  when  he  is  admittedly  unsound  ;  and  to  be  in 
reality  the  method  by  which  the  true  sense  of  Holy 
Scripture  is  ascertained.  In  the  first  place  (and  this 
is  to  be  insisted  upon),  Origen  endeavored  to  in- 
terpret Scripture  according  to  the  analogy  of  the 
faith  and  the  tradition  of  the  Church  ;  and  how  im- 
portant this  principle  was,  at  that  time  especially, 
can  be  known  by  seeing  what  the  Gnostics  made  of 
Scripture  when  they  interpreted  it  without  this  safe- 
guard. Let  me  give  you  a  simple  instance.  We, 
who  are  taught  by  the  Nicene  Creed,  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  understanding  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John's 
Gospel  in  its  plain  and  natural  sense :  "  In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God  ; 
and  the  Word  was  God,"  and  the  rest.  But  the 
Gnostics  interpreted  it  something  in  this  way :  In  a 
certain  Being,  whose  name  was  Beginning,  because 
he  was  the  first  of  all,  there  was  a  certain  Power 
called  Word ;  and  that  Word  was  said  to  be  with 
God,  because  He  was  the  reflection  of  God  in  the 
mind  of  Beginning ;  and  the  Word  was  said  to  be 
God,  because  as  the  reflection  he  was  the  duplicate 
of  God.  And  so  when  they  came  to  the  verse,  "  In 
Him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men," 
they  made  out  two  more  beings  whose  names  were 
Light  and  Life,  and  so  on.1     In  fact,  if  you  would 

1  This  is  not  scientifically  exact,  but  sufficiently  so  for  pop- 
ular illustration. 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  I  55 

see  a  perfect  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  the  principle, 
"  The  Bible  and  the  Bible  only,  without  note  or 
comment,''  you  have  only  to  look  at  the  Gnostic 
expositions  of  Scripture  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the 
first  book  of  Irenaeus  against  heresies.  Against 
these  follies  the  safeguard  was  the  Creed  and  tradi- 
tion of  the  Church.  The  other  day  I  read,  in  a 
paper  devoted  to  the  task  of  proving  that  Christians 
ought  to  keep  Saturday  instead  of  Sunday,  an  article 
which  was  really  quite  able,  showing  that  our 
blessed  Lord  was  crucified  on  Wednesday,  and  rose 
from  the  dead  on  Saturday ;  and  now  that  that  idea 
is  started,  we  shall  probably  hear  more  of  it.  What 
is  the  complete  answer  to  that  position  ?  It  is  sim- 
ply this,  that  the  Church  has  kept  Easter  from  the 
very  beginning,  and  therefore  cannot  be  uncertain 
as  to  the  day  of  the  week  on  which  our  Lord  rose 
from  the  dead.1  That  is  the  value  of  the  tradition 
of  the  Church  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture; 
and  so  Origen  claims  that  he  "  clings  to  the  stan- 
dard of  the  heavenly  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  accord- 
ing to  the  succession  of  the  Apostles."  Under  this 
principle,  Origen  shows  that  there  is  a  triple  sense  of 

1  The  Quarto  deciman  controversy,  instead  of  weakening, 
adds  force  to  the  tradition  ;  a  part  of  the  Church  keeping  a 
day  of  the  week,  the  other  keeping  the  day  of  the  month. 
There  was  no  dispute  either  as  to  the  day  of  the  week  or  the 
day  of  the  month.  It  was  as  if  some  kept  Christmas  always 
on  the  25th  December,  and  others  on  the  Sunday  nearest  to 
that  date. 


156  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

Holy  Scripture;  and  as  he  has  to  vindicate  the  unity 
of  human  nature  against  the  Gnostics,  he  likens  this 
triple  sense  to  the  tripartite  nature  of  man,  the  lit- 
eral sense  corresponding  to  the  bodily  perceptions, 
the  psychical  or  moral  conveying  instruction  to  the 
moral  nature  or  soul,  and  the  mystical  or  spiritual 
feeding  the  spirit,  or  religious  nature.  Now,  al- 
though perhaps  we  do  not  speak  in  this  way,  yet 
there  is  no  earnest  and  faithful  preacher  of  the 
present  day  who  does  not  attempt  to  draw  from 
his  text,  in  addition  to  its  literal  sense,  the  moral 
principle  involved  and  the  spiritual  truth  taught. 
Scripture  has  these  three  senses ;  and  though  it  is 
true  that  the  principle  of  mystical  interpretation  has 
been  carried  to  fanciful  lengths,  yet  it  is  recognized 
in  the  New  Testament,  especially  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews.  Origen,  however,  is  censured  for 
saying  that  certain  passages  in  Scripture  do  not 
contain  the  "  corporeal  "  or  literal  sense — by  which 
he  is  thought  to  mean  that  they  are  not  literally  and 
historically  true,  and  so  to  discredit  the  integrity  of 
the  record.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  be  open  to 
that  censure ;  but  if  we  look  at  the  examples  he 
gives  in  the  fourth  book  of  the  Principia  to  illus- 
trate his  meaning,  I  think  we  may  relieve  him  of  it 
by  understanding  him  rightly.  For  example,  he 
tells  us  that  certain  Jews  refused  to  believe  in  our 
Lord  because  they  did  not  find  that  prophecy  liter- 
ally fulfilled  after  His  advent — that  the  wolf  was  to 
feed  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  to  lie  down 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  I  $7 

with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and 
the  fatling  together,  and  a  little  child  to  lead  them. 
Again,  he  anticipates  modern  objections  to  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  by  showing  that  the  first  three 
days  of  creation  could  not  be  literal  days — that  is, 
days  of  sunlight  followed  or  preceded  by  moonlight 
or  darkness — because  they  passed  before  the  sun  and 
moon  were  set  as  lights  in  the  heavens.  So  he 
says  :  "  Cain,  when  going  forth  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  certainly  appears  to  thoughtful  men 
as  likely  to  lead  the  reader  to  inquire  what  is  the 
presence  of  God,  and  what  is  meant  by  going  out 
from  it."  So  also,  we  are  not  to  understand  liter- 
ally, that  the  devil,  taking  our  Lord  up  into  a  high 
mountain,  showed  to  his  bodily  eye  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  ;  because 
there  is  no  mountain  so  high  that  they  could  pos- 
sibly be  visible  from  it.  One  other  example  I  must 
glvQ  to  illustrate  Origen's  acuteness  and  hard  com- 
mon sense ;  the  injunction,  "  If  anyone  smite  thee  on 
the  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also,"  was  not 
intended  to  be  literally  understood,  "  because  he  who 
strikes,  unless  he  has  some  bodily  defect,  smites  the 
left  cheek  with  the  right  hand."  I  am  not  learned 
in  what  remains  of  Origen's  expository  works,  and 
cannot  tell  how  far  he  sacrificed  the  letter ;  but  cer- 
tainly, as  illustrated  by  these  examples,  and  within 
these  limits,  I  hold  the  principle  to  be  sound.  No 
one  can  have  studied  the  Fathers  of  the  Church 
without  being  profoundly  impressed  with  the  wealth 


158  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

of  meaning  they  find  in  Holy  Scripture,  when  they 
make  use  judiciously  of  that  principle  of  type  and 
prefiguration  of  which  we  are  unjustly  suspicious 
when  we  find  it  called  "  mystical."  Melchizedek 
was  a  type  of  Christ ;  so  was  Isaac  bearing  the  wood 
for  the  sacrifice  ;  so  was  Joseph  sold  into  Egypt ;  so 
was  Joshua  leading  the  people  over  Jordan ;  so  was 
David  establishing  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Israel ; 
so  was  Solomon  building  the  temple  ;  so  was  Jonah  ; 
so  were  others;  and  as  they  were  types,  so  may 
their  history  be  interpreted  as  prophecies  of  Christ 
and  shadows  of  heavenly  things. 

But  Origen,  though  he  did  not  intend  to  depart 
in  any  way  from  Catholic  tradition,  and  the  faith  of 
the  Church,  stands  as  a  beacon  of  warning  to  the 
theologians  of  later  times,  and  as  an  illustration  to 
us  of  the  remark  already  quoted,  that  the  marriage 
of  religion  with  philosophy  is  the  marriage  of  an  im- 
mortal with  a  mortal,  and  that,  while  the  religion 
lives,  the  philosophy  dies  away.  In  his  statement 
of  the  truths  attested  by  Christian  tradition  in  the 
preface  to  the  Principia,  Origen  remarks  that  certain 
points  were  not  clearly  defined  in  the  teaching  of 
the  Church,  and  therefore  that  inquiry  was  admis- 
sible and  necessary  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  proper 
conclusions  respecting  them.  That  inquiry  he  pur- 
sues, not  dogmatically,  but  as  a  deliberation,  and  he 
expressly  tells  his  reader  that  he  must  make  up  his 
own  mind  as  to  the  value  of  his  opinions.  But  it 
is  just  here  that  no  one  can  follow  him  ;  and  no 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 59 

one  can  follow  him  here,  because  his  opinions  rest 
upon  an  adulteration  of  Catholic  teaching  with  the 
current  philosophy.  Just  at  the  time  that  Origen 
was  rising  to  eminence,  Neo-Platonism  was  attract- 
ing attention ;  and  in  his  large-minded  desire  to 
know  all  that  could  be  known,  Origen  attended  the 
lectures  of  Ammonius  Saccas.  From  his  philo- 
sophical studies  Origen  derived  the  ideas  of  a  suc- 
cession of  worlds  ;  of  the  pre-existence  of  souls  ;  of  a 
previous  probation  of  souls,  by  which  he  accounted, 
not  only  for  the  inequalities  of  birth,  fortune,  hap- 
piness, and  capacity  of  human  beings  in  this  life,  but 
for  the  different  ranks  and  orders  of  the  spiritual 
world,  good  and  evil ;  and  of  a  state  of  indefinite 
discipline  and  progression  by  which  all  souls  might 
be  reclaimed  and  restored  at  last.  Resulting  from 
these  ideas,  he  held  a  doctrine  of  free-will  which 
might  be  cited  as  Pelagian  by  anticipation  ;  and  car- 
ried his  speculations  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  the 
soul  of  our  blessed  Lord  merited  the  union  with 
Deity  in  the  incarnation  by  the  faith  and  love  with 
which  it  clung  to  God  in  the  pre-existent  state, 
when  all  other  souls  fell  away  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree.  The  passage  in  which  Origen  develops  this 
idea  is,  for  its  religious  tone,  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful in  the  Principle/,,  but,  beautiful  as  it  is,  it  is  base- 
less and  dangerous ;  the  idea  is  borrowed  from  phi- 
losophy, and  perverts  the  texts  of  Scripture  which 
Origen  cites  in  its  support.  Hence  it  was,  by  the 
union  of  conclusions  drawn  from  philosophy  with 


l6o  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

conclusions  securely  founded  on  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  that  Origen,  though  one  of  the  greatest 
Catholic  teachers,  and  not  at  all  a  heretic  either  in 
intent  or  fact,  nevertheless  furnishes  in  his  writings 
so  much  that  is  unsound  as  to  permit  almost  every 
subsequent  heresy  to  support  itself  by  his  authority. 
This  accounts  for  the  violent  controversy  which 
raged  about  his  memory  in  the  subsequent  ages ; 
and  this  is  the  reason  why  his  name  stands  as  the 
warning  to  those  who  adulterate  the  pure  truth  of 
the  Word  with  the  opinions,  or  the  philosophy,  or 
the  science,  that  are  current  in  any  particular  age. 
When  philosophy  is  finished,  and  when  science  is 
complete,  then  the  harmony  of  religion  with  philoso- 
phy and  science  will  be  self-evident,  and  need  no 
demonstration  ;  as  long  as  philosophy  and  science 
are  progressive  and  approximate,  the  key-stone  that 
sustains  the  arch  which  joins  them  with  theology 
cannot  be  put  in  place.  One  of  the  foundations  is 
lacking,  though  the  other  is  firm  and  sure.  Where 
Origen  expounded  the  Catholic  faith,  his  work  is  as 
valuable  now  as  ever ;  where  he  based  opinions 
upon  philosophy  there  is  no  thinker  now,  Catholic 
or  heterodox,  who  will  avow  himself  his  disciple. 

The  great  reputation  of  Origen  as  a  teacher  caused 
him  to  be  sought  after  to  refute  heresy  in  widely 
separated  localities ;  but  it  was  under  his  friend  and 
pupil  Dionysius,  who,  after  being  head  of  the  Cat- 
echetical school,  was  made  Bishop  in  247,  that  the 
Alexandrian  Church  began  to  exercise  that  ecumen- 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  l6l 

ical  influence  which  in  due  time  enabled  Athana- 
sius  to  conquer  the  Arian  heresy.  With  Dionysius 
learning  ascended  the  Episcopal  throne ;  but  the 
learning  of  Dionysius  was  not  more  conspicuous  than 
the  loving  nature  of  the  man,  and  his  broad  and 
sympathetic  mind.  The  time  was  one  of  great  dif- 
ficulty ;  the  Decian  and  Valerian  persecutions  oc- 
curred in  his  episcopate  ;  Rome  was  harassed  by  the 
Sabellian  heresy  and  the  Novatian  schism ;  the 
Church  of  Antioch  by  the  worldliness  of  Paul  of 
Samosata ;  and  the  Alexandrian  Church  by  carnal 
and  materialistic  notions  of  the  life  after  the  Resur- 
rection. Dionysius  brought  his  influence  to  bear 
through  the  whole  Church  for  peace  and  truth  and 
right.  His  Episcopal  correspondence  was  great,  and 
his  temper  always  kindly.  Only  fragments  of  his 
writings  remain,  but  they  show  that  controversy  was 
not  always  acrimonious,  and  that  to  speak  the  truth 
in  love  is  the  way  to  win  over  those  who  are  in 
error. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  plan  of  this  lecture  to 
carry  on  the  history  into  and  beyond  the  Nicene  age, 
and  I  cannot  do  more  than  speak  the  names  of  S. 
Athanasius  and  S.  Cyril,  those  great  champions  of 
the  Church  against  the  Arian  and  Nestorian  here- 
sies. One  remark  which  has  been  made  about  S. 
Athanasius  I  must  not  permit  to  pass  unnoticed. 
"  His  name,"  it  has  been  said,  "  stands  for  the  encour- 
agement of  those  who  resist  the  Church  in  the  inter- 
est of  some  higher  truth  which  it  has  not  yet  learned 
ii 


1 62  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

to  appreciate ;  his  experience  illustrates  that  one 
man  standing  out  against  the  Church  may  be  right, 
and  the  Church  may  be  wrong ;  and  further,  his  life 
demonstrates  how  at  all  critical  moments  the  faith 
takes  refuge,  not  in  institutions,  but  in  individual 
men."  The  remark  is  not  original  with  the  author 
of  the  book  from  which  I  make  this  quotation  ;  but, 
borrowed  or  original,  it  would  have  been  repudiated 
at  once  by  Athanasius  himself.  He  would  have  been 
the  last  man  in  the  world  to  allow  himself  to  be  taken 
for  the  example  and  justification  of  any  precocious 
juvenile  who  may  set  himself  up  to  be  wiser  than 
the  Church  of  God.  It  is  indeed  true  that,  in  criti- 
cal moments,  God  in  His  goodness  does  raise  up 
some  great  and  commanding  character  to  uphold 
the  witness  of  His  Church  to  the  faith ;  but 
this  sentence,  as  an  interpretation  of  Athanasius's 
place  in  Church  history,  is  wholly  wrong.  The  old 
phrase  was  not  Athanasius  contra  ecclesiam,  but 
Athanasius  contra  mundum.  At  one  time,  indeed, 
when  the  pressure  of  the  imperial  will  was  too 
strong  for  men  of  less  heroic  temper  than  himself, 
he  seemed  to  stand  alone  ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  at 
any  time  the  free  voice  of  the  Church  was  against 
him ;  or  that  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  thousands 
and  ten  thousands  of  Christendom  were  not  with 
him  in  his  noble  contention  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints. 

One  question  concerning  the  Alexandrian  Church 
has  pressed  upon  my  mind  in  considering  its  event- 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 63 

ful  history.  How  was  it  that  so  great  and  noble  a 
Church  as  this  was  in  the  first  five  centuries,  should 
have  sunk  so  low  in  after-ages  ?  I  do  not  know  that 
I  can  give  the  answer;  but  I  have  the  opinion  that 
one  defect  in  its  theology  contributed  to  it.  Not- 
withstanding the  immense  service  it  rendered  to  the 
Church  Universal  in  vindicating  the  Divine  side  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  Alexandrian  Church  had  an  insufficient  appre- 
ciation of  the  human  side  of  that  mystery',  and  a  re- 
sulting feebleness  in  apprehending  the  sacramental 
relation  of  the  Christian  to  Christ  Incarnate  in  the 
economy  of  redemption.  Required  by  their  rela- 
tion to  the  Gnostic  heresies,  and  the  Arian  and 
Nestorian  impieties,  to  vindicate  the  deity  of  the 
Son,  and  the  universal  influence  of  the  Logos  in  cre- 
ation and  in  humanity,  the  Alexandrian  Fathers 
paid  less  attention  to  the  special  relation  into  which 
the  believing  Christian  is  brought  to  the  Redeemer, 
through  the  sacramental  communion  with  Him  as 
the  Head  and  Restorer  of  fallen  human  nature.  It 
is  startling,  when  we  remember  the  Monophysite 
controversies  of  the  fifth  century,  to  come  across 
the  following  passage  in  the  Stromata  of  Clement,  as 
early  as  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  :  "  The 
[true]  Gnostic  is  such  that  he  is  subject  only  to  the 
affections  which  exist  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
body,  such  as  hunger,  thirst,  and  the  like.  But  in 
the  case  of  the  Saviour  it  were  foolish  to  suppose 
that  the  body,  as  a  body,  demanded  the  necessary 


1 64  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

aids  in  order  to  its  duration.  For  He  ate,  not  for 
the  sake  of  the  body,  which  was  kept  together  by 
a  holy  energy,  but  in  order  that  it  might  not  en- 
ter into  the  minds  of  those  who  were  with  Him,  to 
entertain  a  different  opinion  of  Him  ;  as  certainly 
some  afterward  supposed  that  He  appeared  in  a 
phantasmal  shape.  But  He  was  entirely  impas- 
sible ;  inaccessible  to  any  movement  of  feeling, 
either  pleasure  or  pain."  '  That  is  not  true.  He 
was  an  hungered ;  He  was  athirst ;  He  said,  "  My 
soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death  ;  "  He 
was  "  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  with- 
out sin."  It  is  not  true,  and  the  results  of  the 
teaching  founded  upon  it  were  disastrous  to  the 
Alexandrian  Church.  The  idea  of  an  impassive 
Christ,  accepted  as  the  ideal  of  Egyptian  monasti- 
cism,  reacted  to  promote  the  acceptance  of  the 
Monophysite  heresy,  when  the  imperial  power  at- 
tempted to  enforce  the  decrees  of  Chalcedon  against 
the  patriarch  Dioscorus.  Under  this  influence  the 
Coptic  portion  of  the  Egyptian  patriarchate  broke 
with  the  Church  and  the  Empire,  made  a  feeble  re- 
sistance to  their  enemies,  accepted  the  Mohamme- 
dan domination,  and  was  ground  down  beneath  its 
iron  heel. 

And   this  may  teach  us  of  the  present  day  that 

the  Christian  Faith,  delivered  in  its  integrity  at  the 

beginning,  and  witnessed  to  by  the  continuous  and 

consentient  testimony  of  the  Church  of  all  ages,  is 

^tromata,  B.  VI.,  ch.  9. 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  l6$ 

greater  than  any  particular  school  of  thought ;  and 
that,  so  far  from  theological  schools  having  "  devel- 
oped "  it  into  something  more  than  it  was  at  first, 
there  is  no  particular  school  which  has  adequately 
explained  it.  You  may  understand  what  I  mean 
by  considering  a  fact  which  is  within  the  experience 
of  a  devout  Christian  layman.  Such  an  one,  be- 
lieving as  he  does  the  Creed  in  its  fulness,  though 
unable  to  explain  his  thought  in  theological  terms, 
hears  perhaps  some  able  discourse  in  which  he  in- 
stinctively detects  a  false  note.  He  may  not  be 
able  to  explain  why,  but  he  is  sure  that  the  objec- 
tive faith  is  greater  and  higher  than  the  explana- 
tion of  it.  So  it  is  with  schools  of  thought  in  the 
Church.  The  faith  itself  is  greater  than  the  thought 
of  the  particular  school — the  implicit  faith,  to  speak 
scholastically,  is  more  full  and  profound  than  the 
explicit  faith.  Now,  the  great  defect  in  the  theo- 
logical training  of  to-day,  especially  outside  the 
Church,  is  that  it  is  more  given  to  a  subjective  analy- 
sis of  thought  about  the  Creed  than  to  an  objective 
study  of  the  Creed  itself ;  and  therefore,  after  read- 
ing much  of  that  kind  of  writing,  especially  if  it  em- 
anates from  Germany,  the  impression  left  is  dreamy 
and  unreal.  We  believe,  if  we  are  Christians,  not 
in  what  Clement  or  Origen,  or  even  Athanasius  and 
Cyril,  thought  about  God ;  we  believe  in  God.  And 
the  study  of  their  thoughts  is  useful  so  far  as  it 
leads  us  to  believe  in  God  more  firmly,  and  not 
otherwise;  so  far  as  it  leads  us  to  see  that,  under- 


1 66  THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

lying  all  the  differences  of  different  schools  of 
thought  and  modes  of  expression,  there  are  the  ob- 
jective truths  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints. 

And  yet  schools  of  thought  are  inevitable  in  the 
Church ;  and  if  they  accept  the  whole  Creed,  and 
differ  only  in  the  perspective,  so  to  speak,  with 
which  it  groups  itself  about  the  special  truth  that  is 
most  vividly  realized  in  particular  circumstances, 
they  are  altogether  beneficial,  and  help  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  whole  faith  by  the  whole  Church.  Let 
me  endeavor  to  illustrate  again  from  personal  ex- 
perience. One  man  receives  the  whole  Creed  in  its 
integrity,  but  the  special  truth  in  it  which  appeals 
most  strongly  to  his  Christian  consciousness  is  the 
Fatherhood  of  God.  He  groups  the  whole  Creed 
around  that  truth,  and  thus  develops  a  particular 
school  of  thought.  Another  apprehends  as  the  cen- 
tral truth  of  the  Creed  for  him — as  the  truth  which 
meets  his  personal  conviction  of  sin — the  doctrine 
of  the  Atonement ;  around  that,  then,  he  groups 
the  whole  Creed,  and  develops  another  school  of 
thought.  A  third  apprehends,  as  the  vital  truth  in 
his  experience,  the  ever-present  grace  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit ;  that  furnishes  the  stand-point  for  a  third 
school  of  thought.  A  fourth  takes  his  stand  upon 
the  Incarnation  and  the  Sacraments,  grouping  the 
whole  Creed  around  these  truths,  as  those  which  are 
realized  most  intently  in  his  experience,  and  so 
there  is  formed  a  fourth  school  of  thought.     Now,  all 


THE   SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA.  1 67 

these  are  real  schools  of  Christian  thought ;  and 
they  may  coexist  in  the  Church  in  entire  harmony, 
because  the  Church's  faith  includes  the  central  prin- 
ciples of  them  all ;  and  the  more  truly  Catholic  the 
Church  is,  the  more  harmoniously  they  will  coexist 
in  its  bosom. 

But  it  must  be  evident,  from  this  illustration,  that 
the  Catholicity  of  any  of  these  schools  of  thought 
rests  in  the  mutual  communion  of  them  all  with  one 
another  in  the  unity  of  the  Church.  The  most 
Catholic-minded  Christian  will  be  he — if  there  be 
one  large-minded  enough — who  can  realize  in  his 
own  experience,  with  equal  force  and  vividness,  the 
central  truth  of  each  and  all  these  separate  schools ; 
because  they  are  all  founded  on  vital  truths  of  the 
Creed  itself.  Now,  the  influence  of  unity  in  the  one 
communion  is  to  produce  this  result — to  supplement 
the  one-sidedness  of  the  particular  development  by 
the  comprehensive  catholicity  which  results  from 
the  harmony  of  all.  The  history  of  the  General 
Councils  is  the  grand  illustration  of  this  power. 
But  if  the  school  of  thought  is  not  content  with 
thus  apprehending  the  Creed,  as  related  to  its  own 
experience,  but  denies  the  point  of  view  of  other 
schools,  and  endeavors  to  cramp  all  Christian  ex- 
perience to  its  own  narrow  measure,  then  it  ceases 
to  be  a  school^  and  becomes  a  party ;  and  though 
the  school  is  beneficial,  the  party  is  altogether  hurt- 
ful. No  matter  what  its  foundation,  it  is  narrow 
and  schismatical  in  temper,  unjust  in  its  judgments, 


1 68  THE    SCHOOL    OF  ALEXANDRIA. 

uncatholic  in  its  methods,  and  incapable  of  a  real 
advance  in  the  knowledge  of  the  things  of  God. 
What  then  must  be  the  result,  when  the  party  be- 
comes a  sect,  splits  off  from  the  communion  of  the 
Church,  and  gathers  to  itself  only  those  who  are 
like-minded,  but  to  stereotype  its  narrowness,  to 
ossify  its  heart,  and  to  fossilize  its  brain. 

The  condition  of  rising  to  the  height  and  expand- 
ing to  the  fulness  of  Christian  truth  is  to  be  in  liv- 
ing, sympathetic  communion  with  the  whole 
Church  of  all  ages,  that  which  is  semper,  ubique  et  ab 
07nnibus ;  within  whose  organization,  One,  Holy, 
Catholic  and  Apostolic,  all  differences  are  mini- 
mized, all  truths  are  harmonized,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers have  full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  various 
gifts  in  communion  with  each  other,  and  in  loyal 
fidelity  to  the  Head  ;  who  provided  for  this  in  the 
institution  of  His  Church,  when  "  He  gave  some, 
apostles ;  and  some,  prophets ;  and  some,  pastors 
and  teachers  ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for 
the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ  ;  till  we  all  come,  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  un- 
to a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of 
the  fulness  of  Christ." 


£be  Cburcb  of  IRome  in  ber  "Relation 
to  Cbristian  Tllnit)?. 


LECTURE    V. 

THE    RIGHT   REV.    GEO.    F.    SEYMOUR,    S.T.D.,    LL.D., 

Bishop  of  Springfield. 

THE    CHURCH    OF    ROME   IN    HER    RE- 
LATION  TO   CHRISTIAN  UNITY. 

PREFACE. 

A  FEW  words  are  necessary  to  put  the  reader  in 
possession  of  facts  which  he  ought  to  know,  in  jus- 
tice as  well  to  the  writer  as  to  himself. 

The  Church  Club  of  New  York  honored  the  lec- 
turer with  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  Address  on 
the  subject  of  "  The  Papacy  in  its  Relation  to 
Christian  Unity."  He  accepted,  and  intended  to 
write  out  in  full  what  he  had  to  say,  but  the  press 
of  work  in  his  diocese,  and  other  duties,  prevented. 
Accordingly  he  was  obliged  to  address  his  audi- 
ence, on  the  8th  of  May  last,  without  a  single  note. 
When  the  lecture  was  ended,  the  lecturer  supposed 
that  his  work  was  done.  But  he  was  doomed  to 
disappointment.  The  Club  desired  to  print  the 
Lectures,  and  would  not  consent  to  omit  the  one  on 
Rome,  hence  the  unhappy  lecturer  was  forced  to  re- 


172  THE   CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

produce  on  paper  what  he  had  some  days  before — 
two  full  weeks — uttered  by  word  of  mouth.  The 
only  time  he  could  command  for  this  purpose  was 
while  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  the  steamer ;  since, 
immediately  on  reaching  Europe,  other  engage- 
ments claimed  him,  without  interruption,  until  his 
return,  in  the  autumn,  to  America. 

Under  the  above  circumstances  the  Lecture  has 
been  prepared  for  publication — away  from  books, 
on  the  bosom  of  the  deep.  The  lecturer  does  not 
seek  to  deprecate  criticism,  but  he  would  suggest  to 
those  who  are  disposed  to  be  censorious,  that  it 
might  be  worth  their  while  first  to  try  their  hand  at 
preparing  an  historic  lecture  without  a  single  book 
of  reference,  and  with  the  accompaniment  of  ocean 
waves,  a  rolling  steamer,  and  friends  and  neighbors 
on  all  sides  prostrate  with  sea-sickness.  The  writer 
has  tried  to  present  the  substance  of  what  he  said 
on  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  May,  1888,  in  Christ 
Church,  New  York  City,  and  he  trusts  that  his 
memory  has  been  true  in  the  facts  and  dates  which 
he  has  set  down  under  its  instruction.  About  his 
argument  he  feels  no  doubt  whatsoever. 

G.  F.  S. 

Steamer  "Germanic,"  at  Sea, 
June  1,  1888. 


LECTURE. 

There  is  no  name  with  which  a  student  of  the 
past  can  conjure  more  successfully  than  with  that  of 
Rome.  Whether  he  proposes  to  deal  with  secular 
or  ecclesiastical  history  the  word  is  equally  potent. 
It  represents  what  fills  a  larger  sphere  in  either  field 
of  research  than  any  other.  There  are  cities  which 
perchance  can  challenge  comparison  with  Rome  in 
the  one  or  the  other  of  these  departments  of  history 
alone,  but  there  is  none  which  can  approach  her  in 
both. 

When  one  utters  the  magic  name,  "  Rome,"  he 
throws  a  spell  upon  memory.  The  past  gives  up  its 
treasures.  A  panorama  passes  before  the  mind, 
which  reproduces  a  period  of  nearly  three  thousand 
years,  and  illustrates  the  fortunes  of  mankind,  as 
they  grow  and  advance  and  reach  down  from  cen- 
tury to  century,  and  come  at  length  to  us,  who  are 
living  here  to-day,  in  speech,  and  customs,  and  laws, 
and  institutions,  and  religion,  and  with  some  in 
superstitions.  The  contemplation  of  this  double 
life  of  Rome,  her  secular  and  ecclesiastical  history, 
places  us  abreast  of  our  subject,  assigned  us  by  the 
Church  Club  of  New  York,  to  discuss  in  your  pres- 


174     THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

ence  to-night,  "  The  Relation  of  the  Papacy  to  the 
Recovery  of  Christian  Unity.'' 

We  cannot  meet  this  question  without  taking  into 
view  the  career  of  Rome  antecedent  to  the  birth  of 
Christ,  and  her  relative  position  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth  at  the  day  of  Pentecost  ;  since,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  these  facts  constitute  the  sug- 
gestion, we  may  say  the  inspiration  of  Papal  aggran- 
dizement and  usurpation  as  embodied  now  in  the 
polity  administered  by  Leo  XIII. 

It  is  interesting  in  the  highest  degree,  as  an  ab- 
stract study,  to  note  the  origin  of  Rome  in  the 
smallest  of  small  beginnings,  with  the  fortunes  of 
the  Twins,  and  to  trace  its  progress  through  the 
mist  of  fable  and  legend  until  we  emerge  at  length 
in  company  with  a  State  which  has  already  attained 
respectable  proportions  in  territory  and  population, 
and  developed  the  principles  which  are  destined  to 
contribute  in  a  larger  degree  than  anything  else  to  its 
almost  uninterrupted  success  on  the  lines  of  growth, 
consolidation,  and  conquest.  The  Roman,  we  dis- 
cover, was  born  to  obey  as  well  as  to  rule,  and  hence 
the  individual  imparts  to  the  national  life  his  own 
characteristics,  and  builds  up  institutions,  civil  and 
military,  which  embody  pre-eminently  the  ideas  of  or- 
der, law,  discipline,  subordination,  and  organization. 

Were  we  to  place  before  the  eye  a  series  of  maps, 
representing  the  world  of  the  ancients  from  the 
eighth  century  before  Christ,  century  by  century, 
down  to  the  date  of  our  Saviour's  birth,  we  would 


RELATION  TO   CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  1 75 

see  the  City  of  the  Seven  Hills,  as  map  replaced 
map,  enlarging  its  domain,  gradually  at  first,  then 
by  rapid  strides,  advancing  steadily,  grasping,  and 
holding  as  it  grasped,  province  after  province,  king- 
dom after  kingdom,  nation  after  nation,  until  the 
map  which  closed  the  series,  and  spread  before  our 
astonished  gaze  the  earth  as  it  existed  politically 
when  Jesus  dwelt  among  us  in  the  flesh,  would  show 
us  the  entire  circle  of  civilized  peoples  tributary  to 
Rome.  Her  arm  on  the  right  had  swept  to  the 
North  and  the  East  and  the  South,  and  brought  the 
countries  which  Alexander  had  conquered  beneath 
her  sway;  her  arm  on  the  left  had  rested  upon 
Gaul,  Southern  Germany,  Hispania,  and  more  dis- 
tant Britain,  and  reaching  down  beyond  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  had  laid 
hold  of  Mauritania  and  Numidia,  and  joined  the 
conquests  which  she  had  made  in  the  East  and 
the  South  to  those  which  she  had  achieved  in  the 
North  and  the  West.  The  little  speck,  not  larger 
apparently  than  a  man's  hand,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber  in  the  eighth  century  before  the  Christian 
era,  had  grown  through  the  intervening  ages  until 
it  covered  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  when  Augus- 
tus reigned.  The  period  of  the  kings,  the  local  con- 
flicts with  surrounding  tribes,  the  invasion  of  the 
Gauls,  the  Samnite  and  Punic  wars,  the  wars  of 
Jugurtha  and  Pompey  and  Caesar,  will  serve  as  in- 
dices to  mark  her  advance  and  help  us  to  chronicle 
the   progress   of    Rome   toward   universal   empire. 


176     THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME   IN  HER 

The  earth  has  never  seen  such  an  empire  before  or 
since,  and  doubtless  never  will  again.  Relatively 
to  the  population  then  living  it  was  immeasurably 
the  greatest.  In  point  of  territory  it  filled  the 
whole  orbis  terrarum  of  civilized  mankind,  and 
went  beyond,  and  exacted  submission  from  barba- 
rous tribes  which  occupied  the  border  lands  between 
light  and  darkness,  the  races  which  we  know,  and 
the  fabulous  creatures  which  legend  presents  as 
dwelling  in  the  extremities  of  the  world.  It  was 
not  alone,  nor  chiefly  the  population,  nor  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Roman  Empire  which  made  her  great, 
but  her  organization,  her  unity.  Rome,  the  City, 
summed  up  the  Empire ;  she  was  the  heart,  the 
soul  of  the  huge  domain  ;  she  was  the  centre,  from 
her  radiated  all  power,  and  all  looked  to  her  for  pro- 
tection. She  sealed  her  conquests,  at  her  discretion, 
with  the  signet  ring  of  her  franchise,  and  Asiatic 
and  African,  as  well  as  European,  became  Roman 
citizens.  The  title  was  no  empty  name,  witness  the 
invective  of  Cicero,  note  the  appeal  of  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus in  the  prison  at  Philippi.  Rome  unified  the 
world  as  she  strode  out  and  on  from  Italy  in  the 
march  of  victory ;  she  made  her  tributaries,  in  a 
sense  more  than  nominal,  "  Roman."  They  re- 
ceived the  impress  of  her  spirit  and  institutions,  and 
in  return  they  made  their  contribution  to  enhance 
her  greatness.  She  was  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
and  was  acknowledged  as  such  from  the  Indus  to 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  177 

There  were  great  cities  before  Rome,  there  have 
been  great  cities  since ;  there  are  great,  no  doubt 
greater  cities  now,  but  Rome  at  the  time  the  Church 
of  Christ  was  begotten  by  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  was  unparalleled  and  unapproach- 
able in  its  greatness.  It  was  the  first  city  of  the 
world  in  every  department  of  human  endeavor,  and 
in  every  element  of  material  greatness.  Other  cities 
have  excelled  in  population,  in  commerce,  in  arts, 
in  manufactures,  in  finance,  in  worldliness,  and,  we 
may  add,  in  wickedness  and  sin  ;  in  some  one  or 
more  of  these  characteristics  individual  cities,  which 
can  be  named,  have  ranked  first,  or  are  now  ac- 
counted pre-eminent.  Rome  at  the  time  of  which 
we  speak  was  facile  princeps  in  all.  She  was  the 
seat  of  universal  empire,  her  armies  were  in  all  the 
world,  along  her  Via  Sacra  marched  triumphal  pro- 
cessions, which  displayed  trophies  and  captives  from 
every  clime.  No  census  tells  the  exact  number  of 
people  who  dwelt  in  her  houses  and  occupied  her 
suburbs,  but  the  ruins,  which  lie  around,  and  stretch 
away  for  many  miles  from  the  Forum  and  the  Capi- 
tol, proclaim  a  population  of  at  least  a  million. 
Her  shops,  her  busy  streets,  the  noise  and  din  of 
many  crafts  exhibit  her  industries  and  tell  of  the 
activity  and  volume  of  her  trade  and  commerce. 
The  elegancies  of  life  were  there  in  all  their  super- 
fluity, luxuries  which  minister  to  the  senses,  and 
delights  which  gratify  the  taste  and  ravish  the  im- 
agination.    And  there,  too,  the  world,  in  the  dark- 


178  THE-   CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

est  phases  of  its  rebellion  against  God,  and  light  and 
truth  and  morals,  stood  forth  in  gigantic  propor- 
tions, regardless  of  shame  and  defying  restraint. 
Rome  was  indeed  what  her  own  sad,  desponding 
historian  describes  her  as  being,  the  "  cloaca  max- 
ima? the  mighty  sewer  into  which  the  wickedness 
of  the  whole  world  was  poured. 

Let  us  look  off  from  Rome  on  another  scene. 
The  place  is  a  hill,  not  the  Mons  Palatinus,  but  the 
Mount  of  Ascension,  and  the  figures  on  whom  we 
gaze  are  not  Romulus  and  his  followers,  but  the 
King  of  Kings  and  His  Apostles.  The  occasion  is 
not  the  founding  of  an  earthly  city,  but  the  setting 
up  of  the  heavenly  kingdom.  Our  Lord,  in  the  su- 
preme moment  of  His  sojourn  among  men,  as  His 
final  act,  with  His  last  words,  is  giving  to  His  disci- 
ples the  plenary  charter  of  their  ministry,  and  pre- 
scribing the  fundamental  and  essential  principles  of 
the  constitution  of  His  Church.  The  fourth  great 
empire,  as  sketched  by  the  Prophet  Daniel,  has  now 
reached  the  zenith  of  its  power,  and  the  fifth,  the 
final  kingdom,  against  which  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail,  is  coming  to  its  birth.  The  King 
in  disguise,  for  the  infinite  God  is  hidden  beneath 
the  form  of  the  Son  of  Man — the  King  in  disguise 
is  taking  order  for  the  government  and  administra- 
tion of  His  kingdom  by  deputation,  until  He  shall 
come  again  in  the  same  nature,  but  no  longer  dis- 
guised, at  the  end  of  the  world.  Nothing  can  be 
more  sublimely  awful  than  the  quiet  and. seclusion 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  179 

and  majesty  of  our  Lord's  preparation  for  the  birth 
of  His  Church.  Were  it  not  for  the  revelation  of 
the  Blessed  Spirit  we  would  know  nothing  of  those 
momentous  occurrences  and  words  on  which  de- 
pended the  organism  and  character  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth.  Hence  the  tremendous  signifi- 
cance of  the  disclosure  made  in  the  closing  verses 
of  S.  Matthew's  Gospel.  It  gathers,  as  it  were, 
into  a  focus,  all  that  had  gone  before  of  Christ's 
commands  to  His  disciples,  as  touching  their  office, 
and  it  adds,  besides,  the  basis  of  the  authority  on 
which  they  were  to  rest  in  the  discharge  of  duty, 
further  powers  filling  out  the  entire  sphere  of  dele- 
gated administration  which  they  were  to  exercise 
until  His  return,  and  the  limitations  under  which 
they  were  to  act  and  work.  Remember,  for  we 
cannot  emphasize  too  strongly  the  facts  upon  which 
we  are  now  dwelling,  they  are  crucial  in  any  discus- 
sion of  the  polity  of  the  Christian  Church,  they  en- 
ter as  a  question  antecedent  to  all  others  in  any 
thought  of  Christian  unity  which  embraces  the  Pa- 
triarchate of  Rome  as  a  party.  The  Holy  Ghost 
admits  us  to  the  seclusion  of  our  Lord's  final  inter- 
view with  His  Apostles  ere  He  steps  and  passes 
from  earth  to  heaven  ;  He  allows  us  to  share  in 
hearing  His  last  words  spoken  in  this  world  to  the 
Eleven,  before  He  seats  Himself  upon  His  mediator- 
ial throne  in  the  sky.  This  fact  is  of  transcendent 
importance.  It  takes  us  into  partnership  with  the 
Apostles,  and  makes  us  privy  to  the  principles  upon 


180  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IH  HER 

which  they  were  to  build  and  administer  the  Church, 
which  was  soon  to  come  into  existence. 

Our  Lord,  we  note,  "  leads  His  Apostles  out  as 
far  as  to  Bethany."  As  he  had  originally  chosen 
them  and  appointed  them  their  place,  and  reminded 
them  from  time  to  time  that  they  were  called  with 
a  vocation,  and  were  acting  under  direction,  as  when 
He  said,  "  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,"  or  again, 
"  Ye  have  not  chosen  Me,  but  I  have  chosen  you, 
and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain,"  so 
now  at  the  end,  "  He  leads  them  out,"  separates 
them  from  the  rest  of  men,  and  orders  them,  as  He 
would  have  them,  each  in  his  place,  and  sets  them 
before  His  face,  that  He  may  look  at  them  and  ad- 
dress them.  The  circumstance  that  "  He  led  them 
out,"  the  circumstance  that  He  regulated  their  posi- 
tion ere  He  delivered  to  them  His  final  commis- 
sion, His  last  commands,  adds  weight,  if  anything 
could,  to  His  words ;  helps  to  interpret,  if  anything 
were  needed  to  make  more  plain,  the  meaning  of 
His  behest.  The  Holy  Spirit  paints  for  us  the 
scene,  He  rehearses  for  us  the  words.  What  we 
see,  and  what  we  hear,  harmonize,  produce  one  im- 
pression, and  that  the  deepest  which  could  be  made. 
And  this,  we  are  bold  to  say,  is  the  purpose  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  He  aims  to  protect  with  all  the  safe- 
guards which  divine  foresight  could  provide,  the 
polity  of  His  Church.  Inspiration,  it  would  seem, 
could  do  no  more  than  to  bring  mankind  as  specta- 


RELATION'  TO   CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  l8l 

tors  and  witnesses  of  the  giving  of  the  charter,  the 
drafting  of  the  constitution  of  Christ's  Kingdom  on 
earth.  Inspiration,  it  would  seem,  could  do  no  more 
than  to  lead  us  along  through  the  first  years  of  the 
Church's  life  with  her,  as  she  grows  and  develops 
and  spreads  abroad,  and  show  us  how  the  Apostles, 
who  saw  and  heard  their  Lord,  understood  Him 
and  executed  His  commands.  We  see  the  group- 
ing, we  read  the  charter,  and  we  are  permitted  to 
learn  the  manner  in  which  the  original  officers  ap- 
pointed under  that  charter  by  Jesus  Christ  Himself 
interpreted  its  meaning  and  carried  out  its  provis- 
ions. The  final  verses  of  S.  Matthew's  Gospel  give 
us  the  charter,  the  Acts  of  the  Holy  Apostles  ex- 
hibit for  five-and-twenty  years  the  practical  admin- 
istration of  government  under  that  charter  by  those 
to  whom  the  Sovereign  Himself  gave  it.  Could  we 
ask  for  further  information  to  make  us  certain  as  to 
the  character  of  the  polity  of  the  Church  ?  Are  we 
at  a  loss  to  answer  whether  the  King  committed  the 
administration  of  His  Kingdom  to  a  single  vice- 
gerent, or  to  a  corporation  ;  whether  he  organized 
its  government  on  earth  as  an  oligarchy  under  Him, 
or  an  absolute  monarchy  on  a  level  with  Hi?n  f  On 
this  point  there  can  be  no  doubt  at  all  if  we  accept 
the  testimony  of  Holy  Scripture ;  not  the  evidence 
of  a  single  verse,  or  the  inference  gathered  from  iso- 
lated texts,  but  the  very  charter  itself,  given  by  our 
Lord  Himself  in  His  very  words,  and  the  practical 
interpretation  put  upon  that  charter  by  all  of  those 


1 82     THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

who  first  received  office  under  it,  without  exception, 
to  the  end  of  their  lives,  in  the  organization  of  the 
churches  which  they  planted,  and  the  teaching 
which  they  gave  to  their  followers.  No  answer  but 
one  has  ever  been  given  dogmatically  to  the  ques- 
tion— irfwhom  did  our  Lord  lodge  the  government 
of  His  Church,  in  one  or  several ;  did  He  vest  its 
offices  and  functions  and  powers  in  a  single  vicar,  or 
in  a  corporation  ?  No  answer  save  one  has  ever 
been  given  as  a  matter  of  faith  by  any  branch  of  the 
Church,  until  the  Patriarchate  of  Rome,  in  the  year 
of  grace  1870,  in  the  dogma  of  infallibility,  presumed 
to  affirm  and  require  all  who  owned  her  obedience 
to  accept  as  de  fide  that  Christ  constituted  His 
Church  an  absolute  monarchy,  that  he  appointed  S. 
Peter  His  vicar,  raising  him  above  his  fellows  into 
an  order  by  himself,  and  lodged  in  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors all  power  for  government  and  administra- 
tion. 

It  is  true  that  from  an  early  period  the  ideas  of 
centralization,  unification,  and  supremacy  began  to 
take  shape  and  form  in  the  mind  of  the  West,  and 
Rome  of  course  naturally  lent  itself  to  give  expres- 
sion to  these  ideas,  and  translate  them,  as  it  was 
most  plausibly  believed  and  maintained,  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind,  into  a  blessed  reality.  The 
process  was  very  gradual,  and  in  its  course  of  on- 
ward progress  and  development  it  had  its  perturba- 
tions and  recessions;  but  still,  on  the  whole,  the 
growing  power  advanced,  and  making  use  of  what 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  1 83 

it  had  obtained  by  concession,  by  tentative  claim, 
by  haughty  demand,  as  a  foothold,  it  leaped  to 
loftier  pretensions,  and  then  made  good  by  persist- 
ent assertion,  in  the  face  of  ignorance  and  incapacity 
to  obtain  the  requisite  information  for  refutation,  its 
extravagant  demands  upon  the  obedience  of  man- 
kind. We  can  readily  trace  the  advance  of  Victor 
beyond  Soter,  of  Julius  beyond  Victor,  of  Leo  the 
Great  beyond  Julius,  of  Gregory  the  Great  beyond 
Leo  the  Great,  of  Gregory  II.  and  III.  beyond  their 
illustrious  predecessor,  of  the  seventh  Gregory  be- 
yond all  that  had  gone  before  him,  of  Innocent  III. 
in  advance  of  Gregory,  of  Boniface  VIII.  still  further 
on  in  the  career  of  self-assertion  and  unfounded 
claim.  Still,  while  the  Patriarch  of  Rome  is  thus 
practically,  in  the  minds  and  before  the  eyes  of 
men,  growing  away  from  all  other  bishops,  and  lift- 
ing his  head  above  his  fellows,  and  crowning  himself 
with  a  triple  crown,  he  does  not  impose  the  system 
upon  the  world  as  a  Divine  institution  to  be  ac- 
cepted, as  a  matter  of  faith,  under  the  penalty  of 
excommunication.  Centuries  drift  on,  and  it  is  re- 
served for  our  time  and  the  present  generation  to 
see  this  result  reached.  In  1870  the  decree  of  in- 
fallibility was  formulated  and  proclaimed  as  an 
article  of  faith  by  Pius  IX.  From  that  hour  and 
henceforth  the  Patriarchate  of  Rome  becomes  re- 
sponsible for  revolutionizing  the  policy  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  established  by  Christ,  and  admin- 
istered  by  His  Apostles  and  their  colleagues  and 


1 84     THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME   IN  HER 

successors.  This  is  an  awful  charge  to  make,  and  no 
one  should  presume  to  present  such  an  indictment 
unless  he  has  at  his  command  ample  proof  to  sus- 
tain it.  Fortunately,  in  good  measure,  our  duty  on 
this  line  is  already  discharged  before  we  formulate 
and  make  our  assertion. 

It  only  remains  that  we  should  bring  together 
and  contrast  the  two  systems — namely,  first,  the 
polity  revealed  by  S.  Matthew  in  recording  the  acts 
and  words  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  and  by  S.  Luke  in 
narrating  the  history  of  the  administration  of  the 
Church  by  His  Apostles ;  and,  secondly,  the  polity  as 
now  received  and  imposed  by  the  Church  of  Rome. 
The  one  is  a  government  entrusted  to  a  corporation, 
the  other  is  an  absolute  monarchy  ruled  by  one  ;  the 
former  is  limited  by  a  prescribed  charter  with  terms 
and  conditions,  the  latter  supersedes  all  charters 
human  and  divine,  and  stands  on  its  own  naked  au- 
thority without  condition  or  limit.  The  first  lodges 
all  ministerial  power  and  official  grace  in  the  hands 
of  eleven,  who  are  to  act  in  co-ordination,  in  mutual 
dependence  upon  each  other ;  the  second  makes  a 
single  man  the  reservoir  of  all  God's  spiritual  gifts 
to  the  Church,  and  the  sole  dispenser  of  official  dig- 
nity and  sacramental  blessing.  Let  us  look  on  the 
two  pictures,  the  one  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles, 
photographed  for  us  by  the  light  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it ;  the  other  of  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals,  present 
before  our  eyes  to-day,  as  falling  within  the  sphere 
of  our  own  personal  knowledge  and  experience. 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  1 85 

Christ,  after  the  resurrection,  when  the  forty  days 
had  come  to  an  end,  when  it  was  time  for  Him  to 
ascend  into  Heaven,  where  He  was  before  He  be- 
came incarnate,  but  not  as  He  was  before,  but  now 
with  our  humanity  vindicated  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  purged  from  sin,  and  triumphant  over  death 
and  the  grave,  indissolubly  united  to  His  divine 
Person — Christ,  as  He  was  thus  about  to  leave  this 
world,  not  to  appear  again  until  He  shall  come  with 
power  and  great  glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  makes  final  provision  for  the  setting  up  His 
kingdom  on  earth  and  its  continuance  and  adminis- 
tration during  the  interval  until  His  return.  His 
acts  and  words  are  supremely  important ;  of  course 
they  always  are,  but  a  distinction  may  be  taken,  and 
some  in  the  very  nature  of  the  words  and  acts  them- 
selves are  of  greater  gravity  and  weight  than  others. 
If  we  allow  this  difference,  and  without  the  least  ap- 
proach to  irreverence  practically  we  must,  among 
the  most  solemn  things  which  Jesus  ever  did  and 
said  are  those  which  immediately  precede  His  as- 
cension. They  are  His  last  acts,  His  last  words. 
The  Holy  Ghost  summons  all  the  world  through  S. 
Matthew  and  S.  Luke  to  behold  and  listen.  What 
do  we  see  and  hear  ?  Jesus  leads  His  Apostles  out, 
not  one  but  all,  as  far  as  to  Bethany.  There,  in  the 
midst  of  them,  He  makes  known  to  them  His  will 
touching  them  and  their  relation  to  Him,  and  under 
Him  to  His  kingdom  the  Church.  The  words  are 
few,  but  they  are  pregnant  with  meaning,  and  settle 


1 86  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

for  ever  decisively  and  irrevocably  the  principles  of 
the  government  of  His  Church  throughout  all  time. 
"  He  led  them  out  as  far  as  to  Bethany "  (S.  Luke 
xxiv.  20).  "And  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto  them, 
saying,  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things,  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you ;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world  "  (S.  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20).  Here 
we  see  and  hear,  as  the  deliberate  will  of  our  risen 
Lord,  that  He  entrusts  His  kingdom  to  a  corpora- 
tion. He  plans  to  do  so,  He  leads  them,  He  draws 
near  to  them,  and  addresses  them  collectively. 
These  acts  are  the  deliberate  expression  of  His  will, 
they  show  His  settled  purpose  and  design.  Then 
His  words  are  in  harmony  with  His  acts.  He 
speaks  to  them  as  a  body,  He  uses  the  plural  num- 
ber, "  Go  ye,"  "  baptize  ye,"  "  teach  ye,"  "  lo,  I  am 
with  you  "  (plural).  When  He  willed  He  could  se- 
lect, and  separate,  and  speak  to  one,  and  pass  by  the 
rest.  Jesus  could  draw  S.John  to  His  side;  He 
could  single  out  S.  Thomas  and  address  him  by 
name ;  He  could  challenge  S.  Peter  three  times  in  the 
presence  of  his  fellow-disciples  with  the  question, 
"  Lovest  thou  Me  more  than  these  ?  "  He  could  as 
well,  had  He  so  willed,  have  addressed  His  plenary 
commission  of  government  and  administration  on  the 
Mount  of  Ascension  to  S.  Peter,  but  He  did  not  do 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  1 87 

so,  although  S.  Peter  was  there.  He  delivered  the 
charter  on  the  contrary,  containing  all  the  powers 
and  all  the  limitations,  to  all  the  Apostles  together, 
including  S.  Peter,  as  a  body,  to  have  and  to  hold 
the  trust  in  common  in  co-ordination.  It  is  indeed 
the  plenary  commission,  since  our  Lord  provides 
for  all  men  and  for  all  time  and  for  the  entire 
spheres  of  teaching  and  duty.  He  assigns  them 
their  jurisdiction  :  "All  nations."  He  forecasts  the 
duration  of  their  ministry  :  "  Lo,  I .  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  He  pre- 
scribes the  subject-matter  of  their  instruction : 
"  Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you."  He  imposes  limitations ; 
He  restrains  them  by  associating  them  together  and 
making  them  mutually  dependent  upon  each  other, 
so  that  no  one  should  go  beyond  and  defraud  his 
brethren  by  self-assertion  and  self-will,  but  all 
should  act  in  co-ordination  and  in  subjection  to 
His  sovereign  will.  They  are  to  teach  and  enjoin 
obedience,  but  the  delegated  power  is  conditioned 
by  the  proviso,  "  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you." 

When  we  pass  from  the  Mount  of  Ascension  to 
the  day  of  Pentecost  and  the  first  years  of  the 
Church's  life,  we  are  permitted  by  the  Blessed  Spirit 
to  study  the  administration  of  the  Apostles,  acting 
under  the  charter  which,  as  we  have  just  seen,  they 
received  as  a  joint  commission  from  their  Lord. 
Their  understanding  of  their  Divine  Master's  words 


1 88     THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME  IN  HER 

as  expressed  by  their  teaching  and  the  execution  of 
their  trust  must  be,  it  would  seem  to  us,  decisive  of 
the  polity  of  Christ's  Church,  and  the  more  emphat- 
ically so,  because  we  have  in  their  conduct  in  these 
regards  not  alone  the  consensus  of  a  body  of  devout, 
intelligent  men,  but  the  united  and  unanimous  wit- 
ness of  a  body  of  such  men  inspired  by  the  Blessed 
Spirit.  Could  anything  be  stronger  than  such  an 
attestation  of  the  character  of  the  polity  of  Christ's 
Church  being  in  accordance  with  His  will :  it  will 
suffice  for  our  purpose  to  look  at  the  front  ranks  of 
the  Christian  army,  those  who  were  enrolled  and 
were  drilled  by  the  Apostles  themselves  and  their 
associates.  These  surely  must  be  right  as  regards 
all  the  essentials  of  faith  and  practice.  If  these,  the 
first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  marching  under  the  orders 
and  the  eyes  of  the  Twelve,  are  radically  and  funda- 
mentally in  error,  we  confess  that  we  lose  hope,  and 
surrender  in  despair.  The  Holy  Ghost  casts  the 
bright  beams  of  His  illumination  upon  the  very  first 
believers,  and  brings  them  out  from  the  oblivion  of 
the  past,  and  sets  them  before  us  that  we  may  look 
at  them  and  take  them  for  our  examples.  The  de- 
scription is  vivid,  comprehensive,  and  decisive  as 
touching  the  polity  of  the  Church  while  these  men 
lived  and  when  they  died,  and  many  of  them,  most 
of  them,  sealed  their  testimony  of  their  love  and 
obedience  with  their  blood.  The  record  of  these, 
the  very  first  believers,  set  down  in  Holy  Scripture 
is,  "they  continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doc- 


RELATION   TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  1 89 

trine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread  and 
in  prayers  "  (Acts  ii.  42). 

These  believers,  three  thousand  in  number,  rep- 
resent the  mind  and  teaching  of  S.  Peter  and  his 
associates.  They  tell  us  by  their  steadfast  behav- 
ior, more  plainly  than  words  could  do  so,  what 
their  teachers,  and  what  they,  as  taught,  understood 
the  polity  of  Christ's  Church  to  be — precisely  what 
our  Lord  prescribed,  a  government  taking  oversight 
of  faith  and  practice,  of  teaching  and  sacraments 
and  devotion,  vested  in  a  corporation  ;  for  it  is  de- 
clared by  the  Blessed  Spirit  that  these  first  Christ- 
ians continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles,  not  S. 
Peter  s  doctrine  and  fellowship,  "  and  in  breaking  of 
bread  and  in  prayers."  We  have  before  us,  placed 
there  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  charter  of  Christ's 
Church  in  His  own  precious  words ;  we  have  the 
first  officers  appointed  under  the  provisions  of  that 
charter  by  the  Divine  Master  in  person,  and  we  have 
those  officers  in  the  actual  administration  of  their 
trust,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Blessed  Spirit, 
preaching,  teaching,  baptizing,  confirming,  celebrat- 
ing the  Holy  Eucharist,  exercising  discipline,  ordain- 
ing, and  governing  in  Christ's  name  ;  and  the  polity, 
the  form  of  government  as  set  down  in  our  Lord's 
own  words,  as  understood  and  accepted  and  admin- 
istered by  those  who  heard  those  words,  and  who 
were  guided  into  all  truth  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
as  received  and  steadfastly  obeyed  by  those  who 
were  so  taught  by  the  Apostles  and  their  associates, 


190  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME   IN  HER 

is  a  corporate  government,  vested  in  a  body  of  men, 
eleven  at  first,  then  twelve,  and  then  multiplying 
along  the  line  of  the  same  order,  the  highest  in  the 
sacred  ministry,  until  the  needs  of  all  nations  were 
supplied  and  continuing  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
This  is  clear  if  anything  is  clear,  and  can  be  made 
clear. 

The  form  of  Church  government  which  exists 
now  in  the  Patriarchate  of  Rome  as  a  matter  of  fact 
is  an  absolute  monarchy,  unlimited  from  beneath,  and 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  limited  from  above.  The  Bishop 
of  Rome  in  the  theory  of  the  Vatican  decrees,  which 
supersede  the  charter  of  Christ,  is  more  autocratic 
than  any  earthly  monarch  has  ever  been,  or  in  the 
nature  of  things  can  be.  He  is  above  all,  he  rules 
all,  and  is  ruled  by  none.  In  his  solitary  grandeur 
he  sits  above  all  who  reign  and  govern  in  this  world 
on  his  lonely  throne,  and  when  he  speaks  as  Pope 
in  the  sphere  of  faith  and  morals  his  voice  is  the  in- 
fallible voice  of  God.  His  jurisdiction  reaches  from 
pole  to  pole,  it  embraces  all  lands,  and  all  the  islands 
of  the  sea.  He  has,  and  can  have,  no  colleague,  no 
companion.  His  powers  are  incommunicable,  save 
to  a  successor,  and  a  successor  can  only  appear  after 
he  is  dead.  He  is  an  order  by  himself,  and  his  ex- 
altation sinks  the  apostolate  out  of  the  place  which 
Christ  gave  it  into  a  grade  of  the  priesthood.  This 
is  the  polity  of  the  Patriarchate  of  Rome  as  for- 
mulated and  imposed  by  the  Vatican  Council  of 
1870. 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  I9I 

As  we  look  on  Christ's  charter  and  then  on  this 
scheme  of  government,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  are  irreconcilable  absolutely  and  hope- 
lessly. There  have  been,  sometime  and  somewhere, 
usurpation,  subversion,  and  revolution.  The  Vati- 
can form  of  Church  polity  is  not  a  product  of  Christ's 
charter.  It  is  a  perversion  of  it,  a  radical  and  fund- 
amental change,  involving  a  rooting  up  of  principles 
and  the  substitution  of  other  and  essentially  differ- 
ent principles.  For  example,  Christ  made  His 
Church  catholic,  the  Twelve,  as  the  Revelation  of 
S.  John  informs  us,  look,  three  to  the  north,  three 
to  the  south,  three  to  the  east,  and  three  to  the 
west ;  they  form  a  hollow  square,  and  face  the  four 
quarters  of  the  earth,  the  entire  circle  of  humanity, 
and  to  these,  not  to  one,  but  to  all,  the  risen  Lord 
gave  commission,  on  an  equality,  that  they  might  go 
forward  and  convert  the  nations  and  draw  them  to 
look  up  to  the  King  over  all  in  heaven,  the  incar- 
nate Lord  on  His  throne,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
who  shines  for  all.  Rome  destroys  catholicity,  and 
makes  the  Church  local,  Roman,  as  God  made  His 
ancient  Church  national,  Jewish.  God's  purpose 
was,  as  revealed  by  the  prophets,  out  of  the  shell  of 
Judaism,  local,  national,  narrow,  to  produce  the 
tree  which  should  cover  the  whole  earth,  the  Christ- 
ian Church,  catholic,  universal,  for  all  lands,  for  all 
peoples,  stamped  with  the  impress  of  no  one  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  others,  but  equally  the  property  of 
all,  appropriated  by  each,  and  yet  at  home  every- 


192     THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

where,  just  as  the  sun  in  the  sky  shines  for  all,  be- 
longs to  all,  without  invading  the  proprietorship  of 
each  in  him  as  a  private  possession,  so  that  men 
say,  without  prejudice  to  the  rights  and  claims  of 
others,  an  American  sun,  an  English  sun,  an  Italian 
sun,  a  tropical  sun,  an  Arctic  sun.  Thus  by  Christ's 
charter  and  constitution  the  Church  is  catholic, 
equally  at  home  in  all  lands,  and  yet  the  exclusive 
possession  of  none :  the  Oriental  Catholic  Church 
for  the  Orient,  the  Occidental  Catholic  Church  for 
the  Occident,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  for  Italy, 
the  Anglo-Catholic  Church  for  England,  the  Cana- 
dian Catholic  Church  for  Canada,  and  the  American 
Catholic  Church  for  the  United  States  ;  but  at  the 
same  time  there  are  not  a  plurality  of  Catholic 
Churches,  for  that  would  be  an  absurdity,  but  one 
Catholic  Church,  even  as  there  are  not  many  suns, 
but  one  sun.  Rome  by  her  present  scheme  of  Church 
government  repudiates  catholicity,  and  brings  back 
the  local  and  narrow  polity  of  Judaism.  She  re- 
places Palestine  with  Italy,  Jerusalem  with  Rome, 
the  Temple  with  the  Vatican,  and  the  High  Priest 
with  Pontifex  Maximus,  the  Pope.  As  the  ancient 
Jew  was  obliged,  like  Daniel,  when  he  prayed  in 
Babylon  with  his  windows  open  toward  Jerusalem, 
to  look  to  the  Temple  on  Mount  Zion  for  God's 
presence  and  favor,  so  the  subject  of  Papal  obedi- 
ence, be  he  where  he  may  on  the  earth's  surface, 
must  look  to  the  Pope  in  the  Vatican  for  his  priest- 
hood and  his  sacraments.     The  local  episcopate  in 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  1 93 

every  land  is  simply  the  creation  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  his  representative  and  his  agent ;  all  churches 
the  wide  world  over  in  communion  with  the  Pope 
are  simply  colonies  of  Rome,  absolutely  dependent 
upon  her  for  officers  and  laws  and  absolution  and 
benediction.  Under  her  government  the  earth  is 
unified  from  an  earthly  centre,  not  a  heavenly,  and 
the  whole  world  is  ruled  by  a  worldly  sovereign, 
seated  on  a  local  throne.  The  organization  is  grand, 
comprehensive,  and  unique,  but  it  is  not  the  system 
arranged  by  Christ,  and  worked  out  by  the  Apostles 
and  their  associates  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  is  inconsistent  with  Scripture,  irreconcil- 
able with  history,  and  repugnant  to  catholicity. 

The  inquiry  is  spontaneous,  and,  we  are  willing 
to  allow,  may  be  justly  pressed  upon  our  attention 
and  claim  from  us  a  reply.  How  do  you  account 
for  the  phenomenon,  if  its  origin  be  not  of  God  ? 
Can  you  on  any  other  theory  explain  the  rise  and 
growth  of  the  Papal  power,  if  you  refuse  to  admit 
that  it  is  Divine  ?  We  answer  that  we  can  to  our 
own  satisfaction  trace  its  development  to  human 
causes,  which  adequately  and  completely  solve  the 
difficulty.  We  proceed  at  once  to  catalogue  and 
discuss  the  elements  which  enter  into  the  complex 
problem,  premising  the  remark  that,  even  supposing 
we  were  not  able  to  account  for  the  Papal  power,  as 
it  confronts  us  to-day,  as  a  mere  human  growth,  the 
alternative  would  not  be  that  it  must  needs  then  be 
Divine  ;  it  is  possible,  nay,  highly  probable,  that  we 
13 


194  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

are  not  properly  qualified  for  the  task,  and,  in  the 
first  place,  have  not  brought  forth  all  the  causes 
which  have  been  active  in  history  in  producing  this 
result,  and,  in  the  second  place,  we  have  not  done 
justice  to  those  which  we  have  adduced. 

First,  then,  and  before  all  other  causes  which 
have  contributed  to  produce  the  Papal  Power,  is  the 
city  where  it  has  its  home.  Rome,  the  ancient  city, 
the  seat  of  universal  empire,  the  mistress  of  the  na- 
tions, was  the  suggestion  and  the  inspiration  of 
what  we  call  Romanism.  This  wonderful  city  em- 
bodied and  kept  before  the  minds  of  men  ideas 
which  are  in  their  essence  eternal  truths,  and 
which  are  imposing,  grand,  and  fascinating — ideas 
which,  when  once  grasped,  cannot  be  dismissed ; 
these  ideas  are  unity  through  universal  empire,  cen- 
tralization, organization,  and  obedience,  passing  in 
gradation  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  from  the 
many  to  the  few,  and  from  the  few  to  the  one,  the 
universal  monarch,  the  Caesar  on  his  throne.  See 
how  these  ideas  kept  their  place  in  the  sphere  of 
politics  during  the  Middle  Ages;  note  how  they 
linger  still.  Even  the  names  are  not  forgotten,  and 
Roman  Empire  and  Kaisar  are  still  on  men's  lips  as 
living  words  of  the  present.  The  Church  founded 
in  Rome  by  the  Apostles  inherited  these  ideas. 
They  came  perforce,  without  her  will  or  choice,  into 
her  possession.  They  became  a  suggestion,  they 
were  even  more,  they  were  cherished  as  an  inspira- 
tion.    As  soon  as  the  Church  of  Rome  emerged 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  1 95 

from  the  Catacombs,  and  was  released  from  the 
blows  of  persecution,  she  found  herself  the  first,  the 
foremost  Church  of  all  her  fellows.  Thus  she  re- 
ceived from  her  city,  whose  growth  and  grandeur 
we  have  already  sketched,  the  impulse  which  set 
her  well  on  her  way  toward  claiming  more  and 
more,  as  time  went  on,  what  came  into  her  hands  as 
men  say  "  accidentally,  in  the  natural  course  of 
events."  A  colossal  city  or  diocese  makes  a  colossal 
bishop.  In  one  sense,  as  touching  their  office,  all 
bishops  are  equal ;  in  another  sense,  as  regards  the 
material  interests  which  they  represent,  bishops  are 
unequal,  and  often  very  unequal.  For  instance, 
when  you  look  at  our  office,  the  Bishop  of  New 
York  and  the  Bishop  who  addresses  you  are  on  a 
level,  the  one  can  do  as  much  and  no  more  than 
the  other,  but  there  the  equality  ceases.  The  Bish- 
op of  New  York  has  behind  him  the  mightiest  city 
in  wealth  and  population  in  the  Western  world; 
he  represents  in  a  sense  these  stupendous  factors  of 
material  and  worldly  prowess,  and  his  influence  is 
correspondingly  great.  The  other  bishop  represents 
poverty,  weakness,  sporadic  elements  of  life  few  and 
far  between,  scattered  over  an  immense  territory. 
What  comparison  then  is  there  between  them  on 
any  plane  where  material  interests  are  involved  ? 
And,  further  than  this,  when  you  pass  into  any  field 
of  discussion,  however  far  removed  from  the  sphere 
of  what  is  distinctly  secular,  what  chance  has  the 
little  bishop  against  the  great  ?    Men  do  not  care  to 


I96  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME   IN  HER 

oppose  the  mighty,  those  who  can  snub,  and  thwart, 
and  possibly  crush.  They  pay  court  to  the  great, 
and  defer  to  them  and  wait  upon  their  smile,  and 
eagerly  seek  to  anticipate  their  wish.  And,  then,  so 
weak  and  naughty  is  the  human  heart,  so  easily  is 
it  puffed  up  with  pride,  that  the  occupants  of  these 
great  sees  often  and  quickly  educate  themselves  to 
believe  that  they  are  really  and  intrinsically  better 
than  their  fellows,  that  God  has  put  a  difference  be- 
tween them  and  others.  Such  are  the  tendencies 
inherent  in  the  facts.  A  colossal  city  makes  a  co- 
lossal bishop,  and  this  principle  reached  its  maxi- 
mum embodiment  in  Rome.  The  greatest  City  of 
the  World  made  the  greatest  Bishop  of  the  World. 
Even  when  the  Empire  was  heathen  the  City  lifted 
the  Bishop  so  high  that  he  drew  to  himself  the  un- 
welcome attention  of  the  secular  power,  and  in  suc- 
cession, in  consequence,  as  in  no  other  see,  the  early 
Bishops  of  Rome  were  martyrs.  When  the  Empire 
became  Christian,  Rome's  place  was  recognized  as 
first,  and  the  principle  on  which  that  primacy  rested 
was  clearly  and  accurately  defined  when  the  Second 
General  Council,  acting  on  this  principle,  assigned 
to  the  new  seat  of  empire,  Constantinople,  the  sec- 
ond place ;  it  was  the  principle,  namely,  of  honor, 
based  upon  material  greatness.  That  this  principle 
of  graduation  was  speedily  obscured  and  lost  sight 
of  is  true,  but  still  it  maintained  its  hold  upon  the 
legislation  of  the  Church  through  what  we  may  call 
the  conciliar   period,  and  finds   expression   in   the 


RELATION   TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  1 97 

closing  enactments  of  Chalcedon.  Indeed,  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  primacy,  as  distinguished  from  the  su- 
premacy growing  out  of  Petrine  claims,  was  the  heart 
and  soul  of  Gallicanism  in  contrast  to  Ultramontan- 
ism,  and  was  crushed  out  even  in  the  Roman  com- 
munion not  twenty  years  ago.  The  mighty  prestige 
of  the  City  of  Rome,  her  material  greatness,  as  by 
far  in  advance  of  all  others  the  first  in  the  world, 
set  her  bishop  equally  far  ahead  of  all  competitors, 
and  then,  added  to  this  material  base  from  which 
his  superiority  rose,  there  floated  round  him  hazy 
clouds  of  tradition  which  coupled  his  secular  prim- 
acy of  place  with  the  spiritual  claims  of  association 
with  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  as  being  the  suc- 
cessor of  S.  Peter.  And  thus  fact  and  fancy  helped 
to  inspire  Rome  almost  from  the  outset  with  the 
ideas  of  primacy,  grounded  on  more  than  the  acci- 
dent of  place,  and  domination,  resting  on  stronger 
claims  than  those  afforded  by  secular  power. 

In  the  second  place,  Rome  was  an  apostolic  see, 
and  this  honor  gave  her  an  immense  advantage  in 
weight  and  influence  in  the  mind  of  the  primitive 
and  early  Church.  An  apostolic  see  is  one  that 
was  founded  by  an  Apostle,  and  its  value  consisted 
in  the  fact  that  its  history  went  back  to  the  Twelve, 
to  those  who  had  been  with  our  Lord.  It  will  at 
once  be  seen  that  in  any  discussion  touching  doc- 
trine it  was  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  have  ac- 
cess to  a  stream  which  flowed  from  an  apostolic 
fountain,  whose  waters  came  down  from  S.  Peter, 


198  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

or  S.  John,  or  S.  Paul,  or  S.  James.  The  succes* 
sion  of  bishops  was  adduced  in  ancient  times,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  continuity  of  of- 
fice, abdut  that  there  was  no  question  in  those  days, 
but  with  a  view  to  establish  the  continuity  of  doc- 
trine, to  show  that  the  alleged  truth  had  been  held 
without  interruption,  back  and  back  by  each  bishop 
as  he  entered  upon  his  office,  for  he  then  made  a 
solemn  profession  of  his  faith,  until  the  origin  of  the 
see  was  reached.  The  value  of  this  witness  would 
be  in  proportion  to  its  antiquity,  to  the  nearness  of 
its  approach  to  apostolic  times,  and  it  would  rise  to 
the  maximum  of  weight,  the  utmost  limit  of  influ- 
ence, when  it  was  an  apostolic  see,  a  bishopric  founded 
by  an  Apostle  in  person.  Rome's  pre-eminence  in 
this  particular  consisted  not  alone  in  the  fact  that  it 
was  an  apostolic  see,  but  still  further  in  the  addition- 
al fact  that  it  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  this  distinction 
in  the  West.  There  were  many  apostolical  sees  in 
the  East — Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Caesarea,  Ephesus,  for 
example  ;  there  was  only  one,  of  undoubted  apostoli- 
cal origin  in  the  West,  and  that  was  Rome.  This 
proud  pre-eminence  helped  to  fill  men's  minds  with 
awe  and  reverence.  It  added  immensely  to  her  au- 
thority, and  reacted  upon  her  to  impress  her  with 
exalted  ideas  of  her  own  majesty  and  greatness. 

Closely  associated  with  the  fact  that  Rome  was 
an  apostolic  see,  the  apostolic  see  of  the  West,  was 
the  additional  fact  that,  in  the  controversies  which 
for  three  centuries  raged  around  the  Person  and  the 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  1 99 

Natures  of  our  Lord,  and  the  Divinity  and  Person 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Rome  was  uniformly  and 
steadily  in  the  right  until  we  reach  the  age  of 
Honorius  and  the  question  of  the  one  or  two  wills 
in  the  incarnate  Christ.  Meanwhile,  the  other 
patriarchates  fell  into  heresy,  first  one,  and  then 
another,  then  two  at  once,  then  three,  and  then  all 
four  together  ;  but  Rome  maintained  her  integrity, 
and  as  time  went  on  her  moral  influence  grew  with 
more  than  arithmetical  progression.  To  be  right 
once  when  others  go  wrong  may  be  an  accident,  and 
this  may  be  the  explanation  a  second  time ;  but  it 
will  be  hard  to  persuade  men  that  it  is  still  an  acci- 
dent when  a  third,  and  fourth,  and  fifth  time  the 
right  is  still  maintained  by  the  same  party,  while  all 
the  others  have  been  once  or  twice  or  thrice  in  error. 
Such  was  Rome's  position  among  the  patriarchates 
during  the  fourth,  and  fifth,  and  sixth,  and  part  of 
the  seventh  centuries  ;  she  was  uniformly  right,  they 
were  seldom  right — often  wrong.  Mankind  learned 
to  rely  upon  her,  and  in  the  event  felt  sure  that 
they  would  not  be  disappointed  in  their  confidence. 
The  apostolic  see  of  the  West  strengthened  the  claim 
of  her  august  antiquity  by  repeatedly  uttering  her 
voice,  and  uniformly  on  the  side  of  right  and  truth, 
for  hundreds  of  years. 

During  these  centuries,  while  Rome's  power  and 
prestige  were  steadily  growing  in  the  West  the 
Northern  barbarians  were  descending  as  waves  of 
the   sea  upon  Southern  Europe,  and   sweeping  all 


200  THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME  IN  HER 

before  them  save  what  they  chose  to  spare.  In  suc- 
cession came  the  Goth,  and  the  Vandal,  and  the 
Hun,  and  spread  over  the  fair  territories  of  ancient 
civilization  like  devouring  beasts  of  prey.  The  only 
power  which  challenged  and  awakened  their  respect 
and  awe  was  Christianity,  all  else  they  cast  down 
and  destroyed  ;  the  Church  remained,and  ultimately 
subdued  her  conquerors,  and  made  their  mightiest 
monarchs  attend  as  lacqueys  upon  her  Patriarchs, 
and  hold  their  stirrups  while  they  mounted  their 
steeds,  and  walked  beside  them  to  advertise  their 
submission  to  the  spiritual  power,  to  which  they 
deemed  it  an  honor  to  do  menial  service.  When 
the  barbarian,  the  element  which  was  destined  to 
shape  and  form  the  life  and  character  and  religion 
and  manners  of  mediaeval  Europe,  came  first  in  con- 
tact with  Rome,  she  was  well  on  her  way  toward 
those  high  pretensions  and  lofty  claims  with  which 
we  are  familiar.  The  rude,  rough  warriors  from  the 
North  had  never  known  Rome  before,  they  were 
not  acquainted  with  her  origin  and  early  history. 
They  accepted  her  as  they  found  her,  and  received 
all  that  she  taught  them  as  undoubted  truth,  hence 
the  new  population  of  Southern  Europe,  when  won 
over  to  Christianity,  became  unwittingly  a  mighty 
helper  to  push  the  see  of  Rome  on  and  up  in  her 
progress  toward  supreme  spiritual  dominion  over 
the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Legislation  naturally  followed  in  the  wake  of  suc- 
cessful usurpation.     The  general  drift  of  canonical 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  201 

enactment  during  the  decade  of  centuries  from 
Chalcedon  was  to  aggrandize  Rome  as  the  centre 
and  mistress  of  the  West.  Appellate  jurisdiction, 
for  instance,  limited  and  conditioned,  as  a  conces- 
sion to  Pope  Julius,  by  Sardica,  in  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  century,  had  become  coercive  jurisdiction 
without  restraint  in  the  days  of  Charlemagne. 
Everything  lent  itself  to  produce  this  result ;  it  was, 
as  we  would  say,  the  sensible  and  wise  thing  to  do. 
Rome  possessed  the  apparatus  which  best  qualified 
her  for  hearing  and  adjudging  causes.  Over  and 
above  her  ecclesiastical  exaltation  and  spiritual  pres- 
tige as  an  apostolic  see  and  the  first  of  the  Patri- 
archates, she  drew  to  herself  and  kept  in  her  service 
the  best  and  ripest  learning  of  the  times  ;  hers  were 
the  archives  and  records  of  the  past,  stored  up  in 
greater  profusion  than  elsewhere ;  hers  was  the 
authority  to  provide  all  that  was  requisite  for  the 
hearing  of  causes,  and  hers  was  the  power  to  carry 
out  her  decrees  and  execute  her  sentences  when  is- 
sued and  pronounced.  Thus  there  came  gradually 
into  her  hands,  largely  by  the  force  of  circumstances, 
and  largely  through  her  own  grasping  ambition, 
chains,  forged  by  Provincial  Councils  and  National 
Assemblies,  which  bound  and  fastened  the  West  in 
ecclesiastical  and  legal  subjection  to  Rome. 

During  this  same  period  another  fruitful  cause  was 
negatively  operating  to  lift  the  Patriarchate  of  Rome 
high  above  all  her  competitors,  and  leave  her  in 
possession  of  the  field   as  practically  the  head   of 


202     THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME  IN  HER 

Christendom  and  the  foremost  Church  of  all  the 
world,  in  the  East  as  well  as  the  West.  A  tree  in 
the  midst  of  a  forest  does  not  appear  conspicuously- 
great,  but  when  the  woodman  has  felled  the  grove 
with  his  axe  and  left  but  a  single  oak,  it  rises  in 
lonely  grandeur  from  the  plain,  and  stands  forth  a 
giant  in  its  proportions  and  its  height.  So  it  was 
with  Rome ;  she  left  the  period  of  the  undisputed 
General  Councils  with  four  sister  Patriarchates — 
Constantinople,  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusa- 
lem. These  were  sufficiently  on  a  level  with  her  to 
contest  her  supremacy  and  check  her  growing  pre- 
tensions. But  within  a  century  from  the  close  of 
the  Sixth  General  Council,  three  of  these  rivals  of 
Rome  were  prostrate  beneath  the  heel  of  the  Mos- 
lem power,  and  the  fourth  was  threatened.  The 
followers  of  Mohammed  overran  and  subdued 
Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt,  and  drew  near  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Euxine  and  the  Bosphorus,  and  with 
haughty  effrontery  lit  their  camp-fires  and  deployed 
their  forces  within  sight  of  the  Eastern  capital.  In 
the  ninth  century  Alexandria  and  Antioch  and 
Jerusalem  ceased  to  exist  as  appreciable  factors  in 
the  make  up  of  Christendom,  and  Constantinople 
alone  remained  to  occupy  the  ground  as  a  rival  of 
Rome.  But  she  was  at  great  and  signal  disadvan- 
tage as  compared  with  her  venerable  competitor. 
She  was  not  an  apostolic  see,  she  had  no  claims  to 
prefer  as  a  counter-charm  to  the  name  of  Peter.  She 
was  crippled  by  the  secular  power,  which  continued 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  203 

by  her  side  until  Constantinople  fell  beneath  the 
Turkish  power  in  1453.  The  Emperor  and  the  State 
overshadowed  her,  and  infused  into  her  the  poison  of 
Erastianism ;  and  meanwhile  the  Crescent  went  on 
increasing  in  conquests  and  nearness  of  approach  to 
her,  and  at  length,  after  centuries  of.  imbecility, 
the  city  of  Constantine  became  the  capital  of  the 
Mohammedan  Empire,  and  the  Church  of  S.  Chry- 
sostom  was  converted  into  the  Mosque  of  Santa 
Sophia.  Then  Rome  was  left  really  alone,  she  had 
been  virtually  so  since  the  rise  and  success  of  the 
religion  of  the  False  Prophet.  It  had  been  Rome's 
advantage,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  seat  of  Em- 
pire in  the  West  had  at  an  early  period  been  with- 
drawn from  its  old  and  immemorial  home  on  the 
Seven  Hills,  and  transferred  to  Ravenna,  and  then 
to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  then  fell  apart  into  several 
divisions,  no  more  to  reappear  in  reality,  or  even  in 
name,  in  Italy.  Thus  the  Papacy  was  left  without 
a  companion  to  carry  on  and  illustrate  the  traditions 
of  the  venerable  past,  secular  as  well  as  sacred.  She 
improved  her  opportunities  grandly,  and  grew  apace 
in  assertion  and  pretension  and  claim,  with  no  voice 
in  all  the  world  that  had  the  power  to  make  itself 
heard  to  say  her,  nay. 

Forgery  and  deception  were  employed  to  give 
the  apparent  support  of  antiquity  to  the  ex- 
travagant claims  of  the  Roman  See  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries.  Alleged  decretals  of  early 
Popes   were    imposed     upon   the   credulity   of    an 


204  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME   IN  HER 

uncritical  age  as  genuine  documents,  and  doubtless 
honestly  accepted  and  asserted  as  true  even  by  Ro- 
man Bishops  themselves.  So  far  as  the  effect  was 
concerned  it  is  of  no  consequence  whether  the  Popes 
were  originally  parties  to  the  fraud  or  not.  We  are 
disposed,  however,  to  acquit  them  of  this  immoral- 
ity, and  are  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  originally 
devised  and  put  in  circulation  in  the  interests  of  di- 
ocesan bishops  as  a  protection  against  the  tyranny  of 
their  metropolitans.  Rome,  however,  was  only  too 
eager  to  use  the  weapon  placed  at  her  disposal,  and 
long  after  she  knew  that  they  were  spurious  she  ap- 
pealed to  them  in  quarters  where  she  could  safely 
do  so  to  justify  her  claims.  With  the  false  decretals 
we  must  associate  such  forgeries  as  the  Donation  of 
Constantine,  and  wholesale  corruptions  of  the  early 
Fathers,  as  a  fruitful  cause  for  aggrandizing  the  Pa- 
pacy and  persuading  mankind  to  accept  it  as  a  Di- 
vine system  rooted  in  the  earliest  Christian  anti- 
quity. 

The  development  of  the  Papal  power  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  structure  of  society  and  the  great 
institution  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  feudal  system. 
Then  the  spirit  of  the  age  was  centripetal,  as,  since 
the  Reformation,  it  has  been  centrifugal.  Then  the 
forces  of  secular  and  religious  life  sought  the  centre, 
as  now  they  fly  away  from  restraint  and  control. 
Familiarity  with  subordination,  reaching  from  the 
serf  to  the  monarch  and  uniting  many  and  diverse 
elements  under  one  supreme  head  in  the  State,  re- 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  205 

conciled,  if  it  did  not  force  men  to  desire  a  similar 
perfection  of  organization  in  the  Church.  The 
spirit  of  the  age  is  a  potent  influence,  and  pene- 
trates and  is  felt  everywhere.  The  spirit  of  central- 
ization was  dominant  in  the  olden  time,  as  the  net 
product  of  the  civil  and  military  structure  and  ge- 
nius of  pagan  Rome,  and  of  their  offspring  the  feu- 
dal system  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Everything  tended 
that  way  and  drifted  in  that  direction,  as  we  have 
seen  the  operation  of  opposite  forces  driving  man- 
kind asunder  and  producing  an  individualism  so  in- 
tense, that  even  those  who  have  professed  and  called 
themselves  Christians  have  held  and  taught  that 
the  zenith  of  human  progress  would  be  reached 
when  every  man  was  left  free  to  do  what  was  right 
in  his  own  eyes.  We  must  count,  then,  the  spirit 
of  the  age  as  an  important  contributor  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  Papal  power. 

But  over  and  above  all  the  causes  which  we  have 
noted  as  combining  to  account,  on  human  grounds, 
for  the  marvellous  phenomenon  of  Papal  claims  as 
displayed  before  our  eyes  in  the  Vatican,  we  must 
remember  that  good  men  and  true  all  over  the  West 
deliberately  did  their  utmost,  by  act  and  word  and 
example  and  influence,  during  the  Middle  Ages  to 
help  on  the  development  of  the  power  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome.  I  compliment  my  hearers  and  readers 
when  I  say  that  I  think  so  well  of  them  that  I  am 
persuaded  that,  had  they  been  living  then,  they 
would  have  done  the  same,  as  seeking  to  confer  the 


206  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

greatest  benefit  in  their  power  upon  society.  We 
are  not  all  gifted  with  a  foresight  which  enables  us 
to  look  very  far  into  the  future,  most  of  us  can  see 
only  a  little  way,  and  hence  we  act,  the  majority  of 
us,  in  reference  to  immediate  results,  or  results  not 
far  removed  from  eye  and  operating  cause. 

It  is  astonishing  how  little  is  known,  even  in 
these  days,  when  knowledge  is  universal  almost,  and 
claimed  by  its  votaries  to  be  comprehensive  and 
profound,  how  little  is  known  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Men  affect  to  contemn  them  ;  they  call  them  "  dark," 
and  rightly  in  a  sense,  for  indeed  they  are  usually 
very  dark  to  those  who  are  loudest  in  declaiming 
against  them,  as  we  have  said.  In  order  to  do  scant 
justice  to  this  large  tract  of  human  history,  which 
borders  on  our  modern  age  and  connects  us  with 
classical  antiquity  and  the  epoch  of  our  Blessed 
Lord  and  His  Apostles,  let  me  ask  you  to  look  out 
upon  Western  Europe  as  it  presented  itself  to  the 
eye  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  We  look 
upon  a  barren  waste,  nay  worse,  we  gaze  upon  the 
ruins  of  a  world.  The  civilization  which  Pericles 
and  Cicero  knew  is  crushed  beneath  the  violence 
and  rapine  of  rude  barbarians.  Everything  that  is 
fair  and  beautiful  seems  sinking  fast  out  of  sight, 
and  the  future  holds  out  no  hope.  We  close  our 
eyes  in  despair,  and  feel  that  all  things  must  be 
overwhelmed  in  one  universal  cataclysm.  We  open 
them  again,  and  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century  is 
spread  beneath  our  gaze.     The  desert  has  become  a 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  207 

cultivated  and  fruitful  expanse,  occupied  by  the  na- 
tions which  are  now  the  dominant  races  of  the  earth. 
Christianity  has  its  cathedrals,  and  churches,  and 
hospitals,  and  asylums,  and  shelters  for  monks  and 
nuns.  Learning  has  its  universities,  and  colleges, 
and  schools,  and  libraries ;  trade  and  commerce  have 
their  guilds  and  associations  ;  the  useful  industries 
have  pushed  themselves  to  the  front,  and  made  for 
themselves  a  place  and  a  name  to  be  known  and  re- 
spected ;  cities  fair  and  opulent  dot  the  map  from 
Ireland  to  the  Indies  ;  finance  has  its  centres,  and  is 
arranging  and  regulating  its  domain  in  preparation 
for  the  bank,  and  the  bourse,  and  the  exchange ;  in 
a  word,  as  we  look  out  and  around,  we  feel  ourselves 
to  be  at  home,  we  recognize  our  ancestors  and  their 
institutions  public  and  private,  and  the  interval 
though  great  is  still  within  grasp  between  them- 
selves and  us. 

When  was  this  great  change  accomplished  ? 
Why,  during  the  very  period  which  many  at  the 
present  day  seek  to  discount  under  the  flippant  de- 
scriptive epithet,  " the  Dark  Ages"  Who  were  the 
workers  who  wrestled  with  the  stubborn  wilderness, 
and  the  more  stubborn  natures  of  brutish  men,  and 
brought  out  of  desolation  fertility,  out  of  barbarism 
civilization,  out  of  anarchy  civil  institutions  and  set- 
tled government,  out  of  chaos  order  and  security  to 
life  and  limb  and  property  ?  The  very  men  whom 
the  wiseacres  of  the  nineteenth  century,  with  their 
heads  high  in  the  air,  as  they  strut  and  swagger  with 


208     THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME   IN  HER 

their  little  stock  of  superficial  information  picked  up 
from  newspapers  and  reviews  and  encyclopaedias, 
affect  to  disparage  as  poor  benighted  monks,  ignor- 
ant ecclesiastics,  and  mediaeval  drones.  It  would 
be  an  interesting  spectacle  to  see  such  persons  com- 
pelled to  take  their  places  in  the  witness-box  and 
sustain  an  examination  upon  the  period  which  they 
are  not  slow  to  proclaim  that  they  pity  and  despise, 
and  which,  with  a  splendid  irony  of  which  they  are 
entirely  unconscious,  they  denominate  "  dark?'  It 
would  soon  be  painfully  apparent  that  their  descrip- 
tion was  correct,  but  in  a  sense  they  did  not  mean. 
Alas  !  the  darkness  is  abysmal,  but  it  is  not  the 
darkness  of  the  ages,  but  the  profound  ignorance  of 
our  friends  and  neighbors  who,  parrot-like,  repeat 
the  current  talk  of  the  day,  and  praise  or  condemn 
as  fashion  and  the  popular  voice  bid  them  speak. 

This  wronderful  era,  the  Middle  Ages,  was,  as  is 
necessarily  implied  in  the  description  which  we  have 
given,  a  formative  period  ;  it  witnessed  a  transition 
from  wild  confusion  to  order,  regulated  and  settled 
by  law  in  the  State  and  in  society.  Among  the  in- 
strumentalities which  good  men  and  true,  during 
the  first  half  of  this  interval,  or  possibly  two-thirds, 
looked  to  and  trusted  as  most  effectual  to  repress 
violence  and  subserve  the  best  interests  of  mankind, 
was  the  Papal  Poiver,  We  have  ventured  to  sug- 
gest that  had  we  lived  between  the  era,  say  of  the 
fall  of  the  Western  Empire  in  A.D.  476,  and  the  close 
of  the  thirteenth  century,   we  would   have   acted 


RELATION1  TO    CHRISTIAN'  UNITY.  209 

zealously  with  those  who  sought  to  aggrandize  the 
power  and  the  influence  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  We 
admit  that  it  was  for  those  who  lived  at  the  time, 
and  would  have  been  for  us,  had  we  been  their  con- 
temporaries, a  huge  mistake  to  adopt  this  course, 
but  that  was  not  the  question  ;  the  issue  for  us  to 
have  met  was,  "  What  is  best  for  mankind,  as  far  as 
ordinary  human  wisdom  can  foresee  ?  "  and  the  an- 
swer would  have  been,  a  great  central  power,  based 
upon  religion  and  morals,  commanding  the  rever- 
ence of  society,  brave  enough  to  speak  out  for  right 
and  justice  and  truth,  and  strong  enough  to  cause 
its  voice  to  be  obeyed.  Such  a  power  offered  it- 
self and  pressed  itself  upon  the  acceptance  of  the 
world  for  the  cure  of  its  evils  and  the  supply  of  its 
social  and  moral  needs  in  the  rapidly-growing  influ- 
ence of  what  was  claimed  to  be  S.  Peter's  Chair. 
We  are  not  ignoring  the  immoralities  which  often 
disgraced  the  lives  of  the  Popes,  and  the  corruptions 
which  were  creeping  into  the  system.  We  do  not 
forget  the  pornography  and  the  dicta  of  Gregory  VII. 
and  the  schema  of  Innocent  III.,  but  at  a  distance, 
when  there  were  few  channels  of  communication, 
scandals,  even  in  the  lives  of  eminent  persons,  were 
not  soon  known,  and  even  when  discovered,  were 
not  soon  or  readily  published  far  and  wide,  and  per- 
versions in  doctrine  and  declensions  in  discipline 
and  practice  did  not  challenge  immediate  attention 
and  rebuke  in  an  uncritical  age. 

The  Papal  Power  at  a  distance  from  Rome  in- 
14 


2IO     THE   CHURCH  OF  ROME   IN  HER 

spired  awe  and  continued  to  command  the  highest 
reverence,  in  spite  of  the  Johns,  and  Formosus,  and 
Stephens,  and  Theodoras,  and  Marozias.  It  was 
perfectly  natural  that  this  should  be  so,  because  the 
drift  of  Papal  influence,  as  exhibited  in  public  in  the 
great  issues,  aside  from  the  aggrandizement  of  its 
own  power,  was  generally  on  the  side  of  equity,  and 
justice,  and  righteousness.  An  illustration  will  best 
serve  to  make  plain  our  meaning.  Philip  Augustus 
of  France,  a  contemporary  of  King  John  of  England, 
in  defiance  of  God's  law  and  the  opinion  of  men,  re- 
solved to  put  away  the  wife  of  his  youth,  and  enter 
into  a  guilty  alliance  with  a  disreputable  woman. 
Who  was  there  to  say  him  nay  ?  There  was  no  pub- 
lic opinion,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term  ;  no 
public  Press  ;  no  local  tribunal  to  call  him  to  ac- 
count. Even  the  Church  was  powerless  in  her  na- 
tional councils  to  coerce  him  into  a  decent  respect 
for  good  manners  and  morals;  on  the  contrary, 
Philip  compelled  her  in  her  local  councils  to  sanction 
by  her  approval  his  vileness  and  wickedness. 

Let  him  of  the  nineteenth  century  who  hears  or 
reads  this  statement  be  not  overmuch  shocked,  as 
though  we  in  our  time  never  winked  at  vice  in  high 
places,  nor  connived  at  sin  under  the  penalty  of  los- 
ing the  favor  of  the  great,  or  at  the  price  of  receiv- 
ing the  money  or  the  patronage  of  the  rich.  Alas  ! 
considering  all  the  circumstances  of  those  who  live 
and  act,  one  age  has  not  so  much  the  advantage  of 
another.     Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  there  seemed 


RELATION   TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  211 

to  be  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking  no  power 
on  earth  to  stay  the  French  King  in  his  career  of 
foul  wrong  to  his  injured  wife  and  Queen,  until  the 
case  came  by  appeal  of  Ingelburga  to  Innocent  III. 
He  quickly  decided  the  issue  in  favor  of  innocence 
and  right,  and  bade  the  monarch  to  put  away  his 
mistress  and  reinstate  his  wife.  Philip  demurred, 
and  sought  by  every  means  at  his  command  to  cajole 
the  Pope  into  acquiescence  in  his  crime,  but  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  sternly  refused  to  listen  to  his  flat- 
teries or  receive  his  bribes.  He  brought  to  bear  up- 
on him  excommunication  and  interdict,  and  in  six 
months'  time  Agnes  was  an  outcast,  and  Ingelburga 
was  in  her  lawful  place.  Think  of  the  moral  effect 
of  such  a  spectacle  presented  and  kept  before  the 
eyes  of  Europe. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  good  men  would  hail  the 
Papacy  in  such  an  age,  when  there  seemed  to  be  no 
other  power  on  earth  strong  enough  to  redress  the 
terrible  wrongs  which  were  wrought  by  kings,  and 
princes,  and  barons,  and  to  cure  the  evils  which  were 
preying  upon  society  ?  It  is  perfectly  true  that 
these  good  men  were  unwittingly  helping  to  intro- 
duce and  develop  what  would  ultimately  prove  a 
worse  evil  than  those  which  they  sought  to  repress 
and  expel ;  but  they  could  not  see  into  the  distant 
future  any  more  than  we  can.  We  have  known  a 
tender-hearted  physician  ply  his  patient,  who  was 
writhing  with  agony  under  the  scourge  of  a  painful 
disease,  with  nightly  doses  of  morphine.     The  nar- 


212  THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME  IN  HER 

cotic  gave  immediate  and  grateful  relief,  and  at 
length  the  sick  man  became  well ;  but  he  arose  from 
his  couch  with  a  worse  and  more  terrible  disorder 
than  that  of  which  he  had  been  cured  ;  the  insidious 
drug  had  introduced  a  craving  for  stimulants,  and 
the  present  relief  from  excruciating  distress  was  re- 
placed by  a  permanent  mania  for  drink.  Thus  was 
it  with  those  who  welcomed  the  autocracy  and  su- 
premacy of  the  See  of  Rome,  in  the  eleventh  and 
following  centuries,  as  a  panacea  for  the  ills  of  so- 
ciety and  of  the  state  and  of  the  Church  ;  they  little 
dreamed  that  they  were  aiding  to  bind  Europe  in 
chains,  which  would  become  so  galling  in  two  cen- 
turies or  more  that  the  nations,  goaded  to  frenzy  by 
exactions  and  repression  and  tyranny,  would  rise  in 
wild  revolt  and  burst  them  asunder.  Yet  so  it  was, 
and  the  great  convulsion  of  the  sixteenth  century 
was  the  outcome  of  centralization  pushed  to  the 
extreme,  without  limits  or  restraints  from  beneath, 
and  with  scarcely  any  acknowledgment  of  accounta- 
bility to  any  power  which  reigned  above.  Looking 
over  that  remote  past,  and  taking  into  account  the 
conditions  of  society,  the  presence  of  evils  which 
have  long  since  disappeared,  and  the  absence  of  re- 
straints which  are  the  creation  of  modern  times,  and 
sinking  ourselves  to  the  level  of  ordinary  mortals, 
and  allowing  that  we  are  not  endowed  with  the  gift 
of  forecasting  the  future  beyond  the  powers  of  pre- 
science possessed  by  our  ancestors,  we  shall  be  pre- 
pared to  admit  that  good  men  and  wise  men  were 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  213 

excusable,  if  not  justified,  in  throwing  their  influ- 
ence on  the  side  of  the  Pope.  At  all  events  they 
did  so,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  the  reforming 
councils  of  the  fifteenth  century  were,  after  repeated 
efforts,  shown  to  be  powerless  "  to  reform  the  Church 
in  its  head  and  members,"  the  object  for  which  they 
were  convened ;  and  it  was  seen  that  the  Western 
Patriarchate  was  beyond  control  from  within,  and 
was  now  undoing,  and  more  than  undoing,  all  the 
good  that  it  had  once  and  for  ages  done,  by  its  cor- 
ruption in  faith  and  morals,  its  usurpations  and 
rapacity,  and  its  intolerable  claims.  Then  true  men 
and  good  men  largely  began  to  draw  off  from  giving 
it  their  support  with  a  view  to  aggrandize  its  power, 
and  sought  to  put  canonical  restraints  upon  it,  or 
else  they  took  up  a  position  of  open  revolt. 

Thus  the  elements  which  might  have  saved  it 
from  the  terrible  catastrophe  which  has  overtaken  it 
in  the  Vatican  decrees  of  1870  were  so  reduced  in 
strength,  after  the  upheaval  and  disruption  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  that  they  were  unequal  to  the  ef- 
fort of  making  head  against  the  centripetal  forces 
which  had  been  for  centuries  driving  Rome  on  to 
the  awful  plunge  which  she  made  when  she  dis- 
owned, by  formal  decree  and  as  a  matter  of  faith, 
the  corporate  government,  as  constituted  and  estab- 
lished by  Christ,  and  substituted  in  its  place  another 
of  her  own  invention — an  absolute  monarchy  vested 
in  a  single  potentate,  not  only  free  from  limitation 
and  irresponsible  to  man,  but  alleged  to  be  and  ac- 


214  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME  IN  HER 

knowledged  to  be  infallible.  This  is  the  phenome- 
non which  now  confronts  us,  and  we  claim  that  we 
have  abundantly  accounted  for  its  existence  by  the 
causes  which  we  have  adduced.  God's  word  and 
God's  will  can  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a 
system  which  would  make  Him,  if  it  were  of  Divine 
origin,  flatly  contradict  Himself.  It  has  been  built 
up  by  human  instrumentalities,  and  the  result  is  an 
awful  impiety,  as  we  firmly  believe,  because  it  has  at- 
tempted to  invade  Christ's  sovereignty,  and  amend 
and  repeal  His  laws.  Place  the  Papacy  as  organized 
by  the  Schema  of  Pius  IX.,  as  it  exists  now,  leav- 
ing out  of  view  all  the  accidents  of  time  and  place, 
all  the  accessories  which  are  not  essential,  face  to 
face  with  the  form  of  government  established  by  our 
risen  Lord,  and  vested  by  Him,  as  His  last  act  while 
He  remained  on  earth,  in  His  eleven  Apostles ;  face 
to  face  with  the  form  of  government  administered 
by  those  same  Apostles,  as  recorded  by  the  Blessed 
Spirit  in  the  inspired  word  of  God  ;  and  it  will  at 
once  be  apparent  that  they  are  irreconcilable.  The 
one  is  not  derived  from  the  other,  as  a  flower  from 
the  bud  or  fruit  from  the  blossom.  The  latter  could 
only  take  the  place  of  the  former  by  revolution. 
There  must  have  been  the  acts  of  breaking  down 
and  destroying,  and  then  of  substitution.  And  this 
exactly  describes  the  process. 

In  this  way  modern  Romanism  occupies  the  seat 
of  the  ancient  Catholic  Patriarchate  of  the  West. 
Practically,  this  has  been  the  case  for  a  long  time, 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN  UNITY.  21 5 

but  as  a  matter  of  law  and  of  faith  it  has  only  been 
so  since  1870.  Up  to  that  date  Gallicanism — 
which  regarded  the  Pope  simply  as  the  administra- 
tive head  of  Christendom — was  possible.  Since  that 
date  and  henceforth,  until  the  Vatican  decrees  are 
repealed,  such  a  view  in  the  Roman  Communion  is 
heresy,  and  subjects  him  who  maintains  it  to  the 
pains  and  penalties  of  excommunication.  We  see, 
then,  how  very  modern  modern  Romanism  is. 
What  place  can  such  a  system  have  in  any  move- 
ment toward  Christian  unity  ?  "Just  none  at  all" 
is  the  terse  and  definite  answer  which  Rome  her- 
self compels  us  to  make.  In  her  present  attitude, 
as  defined  by  herself,  she  has  isolated  herself  from 
the  rest  of  Christendom.  She  has  put  up  the  bars 
against  all  approach  from  without,  and  has  pro- 
claimed and  published  the  declaration  that  only  on 
her  own  terms  will  she  hold  communion  with  her 
sister  Patriarchates,  or  with  any  who  profess  and 
call  themselves  Christians,  and  those  terms  all  out- 
side of  the  obedience  of  the  Pope  believe  to  be  dis- 
loyalty to  Christ  and  treason  against  His  Church. 
Surely  it  is  useless,  and  worse  than  hopeless,  to  con- 
sider Rome  in  any  efforts  toward  healing  the  pres- 
ent unhappy  divisions  of  Christendom.  She  is  the 
most  unhistoric  of  sects.  Her  origin,  as  exhibiting  a 
system  which  she  enjoins  as  of  faith,  goes  back  no 
further  than  1870.  A  Christianity  which  is  not  his- 
toric, which  cannot  trace  its  organic  life  in  polity, 
faith,  sacraments,  and  liturgy  back  to  the  Apostles, 


2l6     THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME   IN  HER 

and  through  them  find  shelter  under  Christ's  char- 
ter and  constitution,  cannot  make  good  .its  claim 
to  be  Christ's  Church,  as  He  established  it  on  the 
Mount  of  Ascension,  and  His  Apostles,  acting  un- 
der His  explicit  directions,  and  guided  and  sus- 
tained by  the  Holy  Ghost,  organized  it  on  the  day N 
of  Pentecost,  and  administered  it  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  whithersoever  they  went  as  the  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Gospel.  What  God  has  in  store 
for  Rome  we  know  not ;  but  as  she  stands  before  us 
to-day  we  can  see  no  prospect  of  reaching  her  on 
any  terms,  save  her  own,  which  would  be,  as  we  ac- 
count it,  an  absolute  and  complete  surrender  of 
Catholicity,  and  treason  against  Christ,  and  disloy- 
alty to  His  Church.  We  are  hopeless,  so  far  as 
human  foresight  can  reach,  of  Rome's  reforming  her- 
self, and  receding  from  her  present  position  of  isola- 
tion from  the  rest  of  Christendom,  and  returning  to 
her  place  as  a  Patriarchate  among  Patriarchates. 

The  only  ground  for  hope  which  we  can  discover 
for  the  Papacy  is  bound  up  in  the  success  of  the  ef- 
forts for  the  accomplishment  of  Christian  unity.  If 
that  blessed  result  is  ever  gained,  then  perchance 
the  entirety  of  Christianity  without  Rome  can  con- 
strain her  to  see  her  unchristian  attitude  and  state, 
and  to  desire  and  seek  to  resume  her  place  once 
more  as  a  branch  of  Christ's  Church.  We  admit 
that  the  prospect  is  very  far  from  being  encourag- 
ing ;  still,  we  may  ask,  is  it  any  more  gloomy  than 
that  of  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  ?     Our  first  duty 


RELATION  TO    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  2\J 

is  to  labor  for  the  unity  of  Christendom  outside  of 
Rome  ;  and  in  this  field  of  noble  endeavor  it  seems 
to  me  that  we  of  the  American  Church  have  a  very 
special  vocation  from  God,  made  plain  before  our 
eyes  by  the  providential  position  which  we  hold  in 
relation  to  our  fellow  Christians.  On  the  positive 
side  we  possess  the  deposit  of  Holy  Orders,  Faith, 
Sacraments,  and  a  pure  Liturgy ;  on  the  negative 
we  are,  while  being  a  historic  Church  reaching  back 
without  break  or  interruption  to  the  Apostles,  free 
from  all  the  complications  which  embarrass  older 
members  of  the  Christian  Commonwealth,  who  have 
had  their  feuds  and  quarrels,  and  retain  their  irrita- 
tions and  jealousies,  which  are  the  inheritance  of 
the  past.  We  are  the  young  daughter  of  ancient 
parentage,  planted  on  virgin  soil,  with  no  bitter  re- 
collections of  our  own  to  cherish ;  and  certainly,  as 
yet,,  with  years  too  few  behind  us  to  have  enabled 
us  to  have  left  with  others  unpleasant  memories  of 
ourselves.  Again,  we  are  unembarrassed  with  any 
relations  to  the  State.  We  are  in  the  same  condi- 
tion in  which  the  Early  Church  was  before  the  days 
of  Constantine.  Locally,  we  are  the  connecting  link 
between  the  old  world  on  the  East  and  the  West. 
We  reach  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  We 
brought  the  historic  Episcopate  from  Scotland  in 
1784,  and  from  England  in  1787  and  1790,  and 
planted  it  in  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Virginia,  and  within  a  century  we 
have  carried  it  to  California,  and  Oregon,  and  Wash- 


2l8  THE    CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

ington  Territory.  We  have  Europe  behind  us,  and 
Asia  before  us,  and  we  are  between,  and  the  Patri- 
archates of  the  East  are  coming  to  our  shores  and 
making  their  homes  among  us.  Surely  Providence 
seems  to  be  calling  us  by  many  unmistakable  signs 
to  become  the  great  instrument  in  God's  hands  of 
effecting  the  unity  of  Christendom.  Let  us  seek  to 
enlighten  ignorance  and  disarm  prejudice ;  let  us 
be  true  to  the  sacred  office  which  God  has  assigned 
us,  to  hold  in  trust  for  mankind  the  treasures  of 
Holy  Orders,  the  Catholic  Faith,  the  Sacraments, 
and  the  Liturgy ;  let  us,  as  our  supreme  duty  and 
highest  pleasure,  steadfastly  speak  to  all  "  the  truth 
in  love  " ;  and  then  we  may  be  granted  in  time,  it 
may  be  far  on  in  the  future,  still  we  may  be  granted 
the  glorious  honor  and  the  celestial  happiness  of 
giving  the  highest  and  best  meaning  to  our  national 
motto  "  E  pluribus  unum"  when  the  American 
Church  shall  become  the  peacemaker  among  the 
dissentient  members  of  the  family,  and  the  accepted 
medium  through  which  they  will  again  unite  in  com- 
munion, and  so  the  divisions  of  Christendom  will  be 
healed,  and  out  of  the  many  branches  there  will  ap- 
pear to  be  once  more,  as  of  yore,  but  one  Church 
under  Christ,  the  Supreme  Head,  on  His  throne  in 
heaven — one  out  of  many  in  Him,  as  He  is  one 
with  the  Father,  they  in  Him  and  He  in  them. 


A  lecture,  supplementary  to  this  course,  entitled, 
"  The  Patriarchate  of  Constantinople  and 
the  Church  of  the  East,"  was  delivered  at  Christ 
Church  on  the  seventeenth  of  May,  1888,  by  the 
Reverend  Jacob  S.  Shipman,  D.D.,  D.C.L. 

This  lecture  will  not  be  found  in  this  volume  for 
the  reason  that  the  manuscript  was  not  received  in 
time  for  publication. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  lecture,  however,  may  be  put 
before  the  public  at  some  later  date. 


KHERAL 


LIBRARY. 


